Tuesday 29th March 2016

Zenith Maintains Lead in Forex Allocation from CBN Obinna Chima For the second week in a row, Zenith Bank Plc has maintained its lead with the highest allocation of foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the

returns on utilisation of forex published by banks last week have shown.

Zenith Bank with an allotment of $23,630,485.39 was closely followed by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) which got $23,549,564.32, to come

in second, while Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited with $20,003,513.17 held the third slot.

Also, Ecobank Nigeria which published returns of $15,120,559.25, held the fourth position, while First

City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB) with $14,780,851.20, occupied the fifth position.

In the same vein, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) reported returns of $14,518,891.10 to occupy the sixth place, just as Access

Bank Plc with $12,569,794.24, held the seventh place.

Diamond Bank Plc with $11,525,173.56, was in the eighth slot.

Diamond Bank was followed by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc which reported

returns of $11,058,653.79, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – $8,536,168.37, Citibank - $8,006,422.11, and Fidelity Bank Plc $7,125,684.54.

Continued on page 6

NNPC Unveils Strategies to End Current Fuel Scarcity in Next Few Days… Page 10 Tuesday 29 March, 2016 Vol 21. No 7642. Price: N150

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PDP Commences Committal Proceedings Against Amaechi, Army Chiefs, Others Transportation minister: Action is frivolous, ridiculous, laughable Olawale Olaleye in Lagos and Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has asked a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to commit the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, the Chief of

Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonishakin, and Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Tukur Buratai, to prison for deploying soldiers during the March 19 rerun elections in defiance of a court order.

Others included in the committal proceedings are the Commander of

the 2 Army Brigade, Port Harcourt, Brigadier General Stephenson Olabanji, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak.

Reacting to the development, Amaechi,

who said last night that he was unaware of the matter in court, as he had not been served the process, however, described the move by the PDP as “frivolous, ridiculous and laughable”, promising to meet the party in court.

The ruling party in the state and its chairman, Mr.

Felix Obuah, sought for the relief in a motion of notice filed by their solicitor, Kingsley Chuku, before the state High Court registry on March 22.

The motion was bought pursuant to Order XIV of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure),

Rules 2009 under the jurisdiction of the state High Court.

The Rivers PDP and its chairman had earlier in a Suit No PHC/601/2016, filed before the state High Court by Mr. Chuku, secured Continued on page 8

Nigerians Mourn Passing of Fiery Lawyer, Activist and Presidential Hopeful, Tunji Braithwaite Tobi Soniyi, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Shola Oyeyipo in Lagos Family, friends, political associates and legal luminaries yesterday thronged the Teslim Elias residence of the late fiery lawyer, politician and human rights activist, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, 82, who died at 5.55 am yesterday.

The second son of the deceased, Olumide Braithwaite, said his late father suffered a stroke and heart failure.

However, online news website, The Cable, said Braithwaite died one week after losing consciousness while working out on his treadmill at home.

He was said to have been rushed to St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, but never regained consciousness.

Born in 1933, the celebrated lawyer was born into a family of many firsts, the Braithwaite family in Lagos. In 1880, Rev. I. Braithwaite led the first Anglican missionary

expedition, which introduced the gospel to the Ijebu province in today’s Ogun State.

In 1894, the reverend built St. Michael’s, the first church in Epe in today’s Lagos State, after which his efforts led to the growth of church attendance. There is now a second Anglican church – the Reverend Braithwaite Memorial Anglican Church – named after him in Papa Epe. Continued on page 6

Braithwaite

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ntel Resuscitates SAT-3 to Drive Internet Access

Emma Okonji

No fewer than fifteen months after it bought over Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm MTel, through a guided liquidation process, NatCom Development and Investment Limited, trading as ntel, has announced the successful repair and return to service of its SAT-3 submarine cable.

SAT-3, also known as the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine cable, is the longest submarine communications cable in the world with 17 landing points linking Portugal and Europe to South Africa, with connections

to several West African countries along the route.

It forms part of the SAT-3/ WASC/SAFE cable system, where the South Africa Far East (SAFE) cable links South Africa to Asia.

SAT-3 provides access to global markets and enables seamless and diverse connectivity to the rest of the world.

In a statement announcing the successful repair and return to service of the SAT-3 cable, the chief executive officer of ntel, Mr. Kamar Abass, said: “The repair of SAT-3 is fantastic news for data-hungry consumers and corporates in need of superfast and abundant broadband carried

over a robust fibre network with significant capacity and low latency.

“SAT-3’s 17 landing points and intermediate branches incountry and abroad, provide for connections all the way to the Far East, thanks to our alliance with SAFE.” Potential customers of SAT-3 include Nigeria’s telecoms and Long Term Evolution (LTE) operators, internet service providers (ISPs), major international companies, private telecom operators, content/hosting operators, infomedics/infomatics operators, the judiciary for the execution of real-time on-line

matters, banks and the military, as well as airline operators.

SAT-3’s repair also includes the cable’s physical diversion away from shipping lanes. In the past, the dropping and dragging of anchors from ships had been associated with disruptions of the cable system.

With the repaired system’s activation, the system’s Upgrade IV would also be implemented.

This boosts its throughput capacity from 420Gbps to 920Gbps in the northern segments and from 340Gbps to 800Gbps in the southern segments, Abass said.

Nigeria's SAT-3 is now

positioned to better address the country’s need for superfast internet connectivity, data-hungry applications, high-quality videoon-demand and increasing social media usage, thus enhancing customer experience.

Today, submarine cable systems carry more than 98 per cent of all overseas voice, data and video traffic, Abass added.

He explained that the return of SAT-3 was significant in many respects.

First launched in 2001, it was the precursor for internet access between Europe and West Africa and it took off where SAT-2 left off as it reached full capacity.

SAT-2 was brought into service in the early 1990s as a replacement for the original undersea cable SAT-1 that was constructed in the 1960s.

With Upgrade V now planned for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2016, SAT3 will surpass the 1000 STM-1 mark in the third quarter of 2016, thus providing even more capacity for the transformation of Nigeria’s broadband landscape, Abass said.

According to him, “In 2016, ntel expects to connect hundreds of new customers to the SAT-3 system, including many who have successfully used the system in the recent past.”

NIGERIANS MOURN PASSING OF FIERY LAWYER, ACTIVIST AND PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL, TUNJI BRAITHWAITE Talabi, Tunji’s elder brother, was one of the pioneers of the insurance industry in Africa.

In fact, he emerged the first chartered insurer from Africa when he became an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London in 1951.

He set up T.A. Braithwaite (Insurance Brokers) & Co. Ltd. in April 1958, the first indigenous insurance broking company in Nigeria.

Tunji, the last of eight children, was educated at C.M.S Grammar School from 1946 to 1953. He did his A’levels at London University at Kennington College in 1955. In 1957, he enrolled at the Council of Legal Education, London. He was admitted into Lincoln’s Inn that same year and graduated as a barrister in 1960.

He married his childhood sweetheart, Grace, in 1956 and they had five children and several grandchildren.

But many older Nigerians will remember the late Braithwaite as a presidential candidate in the 1983 elections, whose party, the Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), was the only one registered by the electoral commission to join the five existing ones approved by the military government in 1979.

Braithwaite was not alone in NAP, though. He had intellectuals with him such as Professor Wole Soyinka before he became a Nobel laureate.

Soyinka, ahead of the elections, recorded a song which almost replaced the national anthem: “I love Nigeria I no go lie/Na inside am

I go live and die…” Those lines became a sing song as the song became a monster hit.

But Braithwaite left Nigerians with more memorable lines in his presidential campaign as the flag bearer of NAP in the ill-fated election – and his TV commercial was an instant hit.

“I will kill all the rats, cockroaches and mosquitoes,” he would say to the camera, in marketing his anti-corruption ideas to the electorate. It was a message that was too coded for the ordinary voter to understand.

But much more difficult to understand, and even hilarious, was his promise to move residents of Mushin to Victoria Island, and residents of Victoria Island to Mushin.

Unknown to the masses, he was only propagating his socialist ideals of addressing the inequalities in the Nigerian society, with Victoria Island representing the bourgeois class and Mushin the commoners. He would redistribute the wealth and make everybody equal in the society, he said in poetic language.

Needless to say that his campaign did not resonate with the people he wanted to help: he came last in the presidential election with 271,000 votes.

Shehu Shagari, the sitting president, had 12 million.

Violence ensued thereafter and the military overthrew Shagari a few months later.

Braithwaite returned to politics with NAP but with less colour in 2003 and his party was removed

from the register by the electoral commission in 2012 for not winning a seat at any level.

Some of the earliest callers who signed the condolence register at his residence yesterday were Venerable and Mrs. Odubena of St. Paul’s Church, Breadfruit Street, Lagos, Dr. Kayode Okeowo, Mr. Kayode Lambo, Mr. Olaotan Ajose-Adeogun, Mrs. Amaka Egbosimber, Mr. Segun Ajakaiye (DPO V/I), Adeola Braithwaite, Mr. Olusosun Falade, Dr. Alli Balogun Bola, Hon. Justice and Mrs. S.O Honponu-Wusa, Sir Tony Uranta, and Tele and Lanre Aina, among others.

Reacting to his demise, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday commiserated with the immediate family, friends, professional colleagues and political allies of the late Dr. Braithwaite.

The president, in a statement issued in Abuja by his media adviser, Mr. Garba Shehu, said he believed the passing away of the lawyer, author and politician came at a time when his wisdom, intellectual depth, vast knowledge and experience were sorely needed by the country.

Buhari recalled the immeasurable contributions of the late sage to the development of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in Nigeria.

He assured his family and friends that the political history of the country would be incomplete without capturing his roles.

The president urged political leaders to emulate the virtues of

the founder of NAP during the Second Republic, who perceived politics as a platform for honest service to the nation rather than an opportunity to make money.

Buhari noted that the elder statesman was quintessentially selfless, patriotic and committed to national development as his passion to serve the people never waned despite not winning in the presidential elections.

The president prayed that the Almighty God would grant his soul eternal rest, and comfort his loved ones.

In another condolence message, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, described Braithwaite as an iconoclastic political leader and social activist.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, who signed the condolence message on behalf of his group, noted that at his last major outing as a member of the 2014 National Conference, “He (Braithwaite) had stoutly canvassed a confederate arrangement as the best constitutional order for Nigeria.”

He added: “His death has brought a closure to a rich era of political sagacity and social crusading. He would always be remembered for his consistency, tenacity and intellectual fecundity.

“It is our prayer that God Almighty will protect the family he has left behind. May his great soul rest in perfect peace!”

Former National Secretary, lawyer and chairman, Egalitarian Mission Africa, Dr. Kayode Ajulo also showered encomium on the

ZENITH MAINTAINS LEAD IN FOREX ALLOCATION FROM CBN A breakdown of individual bank returns showed that Zenith Bank sold forex to a total of 439 customers – individual and corporate. The bank’s forex sales showed that a significant number of customers on its list procured forex to pay tuition abroad and for personal travel allowances (PTA), while some others bought dollars for the importation of visible items.

GTBank sold the dollars purchased from the CBN to 224 customers, with 32 of its customers getting forex for the importation of petrol, corrugated cardboards, spare parts, bitumen, and industrial raw materials, among others. In addition, 130 GTBank customers were sold forex to pay for school fees while about 62 got forex for PTA. Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited listed the 246 customers it sold forex to. The customers utilised the dollars they purchased from the bank for loan repayment, school fees, PTA and Business Travel

RANKING

BANK

AMOUNT ($)

01

Zenith Bank

23,630,485.39

02 03

GTBank Standard Chartered

23,549,564.32 20,003,513.17

04 05 06 07 08 09

Ecobank Nigeria FCMB FirstBank Access Bank Diamond Bank Union Bank

15,120,559.25 14,780,851.20 14, 518,891.10 12,569,794.24 11,525,173.56 11,058,563.77

10

UBA

8,536,168.37

11

Citibank

8,006,422.11

12 13 14 15 16

Fidelity Bank Sterling Bank Skye Bank Unity Bank Wema Bank

7,125,684.54 6,348,739.94 2,554,769.85 1,930,379 160,000

Allowances (BTA).

The returns on forex utilisation published by Ecobank had 296 customers. Of this number, 92 got the dollars for the importation of industrial raw materials and

other visible items, while the rest were for the payment of tuition fees abroad and PTA. FCMB published 238 customers, of which 76 purchased the dollars for the

importation of visible items, while others were for school fees and PTA, just as a large number of First Bank’s 819 customers also bought forex for school fees and PTA. Access Bank had 195 customers on its list, of which most also bought dollars to pay for school fees abroad and for PTA. Also, customers such as Dana Motors got forex for the importation of Kia vehicles in semi-knocked down parts, while Jubaili Agrotech got dollars for the importation of herbicides, among others.

Diamond Bank also sold dollars to 247 customers for the importation of essential industrial raw materials, PTA and for the payment of tuition fees abroad. Union Bank also had 130 customers on its list, with 41 of them that got dollars for the importation of petrol, gas, and materials for textiles, among others, while the rest were for school fees and PTA.

late Braithwaite, describing him as an example of a great lawyer.

“I was privileged to appeared against the senior lawyer at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja where he represented Mrs. Maiden Alex-Ibru while my humble self represented E.K. Clark, Ambassador A. B. Clark and Prof. J. P. Clark.

“He was full of wits and gifted with rare technicalities, his dressing was sartorially elegant even with the traditional wig and gown but I was surprised that he wore a slip-on black shoes instead of a formal Oxford shoes.

“Despite my fierce opposition during our arguments that went personal, after the court session, he extended a hand of fellowship to me, offered words of advice and heartily commended me. He was a good man,” Ajulo said.

In his condolence message, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar said the death of Nigeria's veteran lawyer and politician has robbed the country of one of its greatest giants not only in the field of law, but also in politics.

Atiku, in a statement by his media office in Abuja, said he particularly admired the late Braithwaite because of his unwavering commitment to constitutional reforms, especially his agitation for restructuring of the country.

The former vice-president noted that he shared in Braithwaite’s passion for creating a fairer federal system that would reduce the fear of too much power and resources concentrated at the centre at the expense of the federating units.

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun also described as “a great loss,” the death of Dr. Braithwaite.

Amosun said: “He will be remembered, not just for his contributions to the legal profession, but also to the development of the democratic ethos in Nigeria.”

The Ogun State governor recalled how Dr. Braithwaite founded NAP in 1983 and over the years, remained faithful to the Nigerian cause through his words and deeds.

Similarly, Amosun’s counterpart in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko described the Braithwaite’s death as a great loss, submitting that the deceased showed love and genuine concern for the downtrodden.

“Dr. Braithwaite's death came to me as a rude shock because it was never envisaged that he was going to transit to the great beyond at this critical time in our nation’s history, given his concern for the nation and commitment to the general wellbeing of the masses.”

Mimiko said it is on record that the political and legal icon devoted his entire adult life to the emancipation of the common man in Nigeria through various platforms including his NAP, which he founded from his days as a student.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode aslo expressed shock and sadness over the demise of foremost nationalist and prominent lawyer.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, Ambode said Braithwaite’s demise was a great loss to both the state and the nation.

Describing the late nationalist as a detribalised individual whose example was worthy of emulation, Ambode said Braithwaite was “a man of the people”, a typical Nigerian who was consistent in saying things the way they were, not caring whose ox was gored.

He recalled that during the military era, especially that of the late General Sanni Abacha's administration, when politicians were afraid to come out and contest, Braithwaite dared the odds and came out to contest against the late general at the risk to his life.

The former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi who also marvelled at his knowledge of Braithwaite’s Jurisprudence, described him as one of the pillars of democracy in Nigeria.

He also said that Nigerians would continue to cherish the virtues of hard work, consistency and strong character traits associated with him that would, for a long time, provide guidance to Nigerians at all times.

In the same vein, the former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Kalu, expressed sadness over the demise of the famous lawyer and activist, adding that the deceased Continued on page 8

TOP GAINERS NGN NGN CONOIL 1.68 18.24 TIGERBRANDED 0.27 3.01 UACN 0.99 20.95 NASCON 0.37 7.87 FCMB 0.04 0.86 TOP LOSERS NGN NGN SEVEN-UP 8.07 153.43 HONEYWELL 0.09 1.71 STERLBANK 0.08 1.62 UNIONBANK 0.28 5.70 UNITYBANK 0.03 0.67 HPE Nestle Nig Plc ₦690.00 Volume: 174.501 million shares Value: N1.406 billion Deals: 1.406 As at yesterday 28/3/16

% 10.1 9.8 4.9 4.9 4.8 % 5.0 5.0 4.7 4.6 4.6

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MARCH 29, 2016

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Nigerian, Adeoba Moyo, Among Victims of Brussels Attacks A Nigerian, identified as Adeoba Moyo, was among the 31 people killed by ISIS terrorists in Brussels last week Tuesday.

Hafsat Costello, daughter of the winner of the 1993 presidential election Chief MKO Abiola, broke the news of the dead Nigerian yesterday morning.

By noon, a Twitter hashtag, #AdeobaMoyo was already trending in his name. A Facebook page in his name identified him with the Brussels university and Ahmadiyya College in Agege, Lagos. The page bore no photograph and no post since September 2014.

Later yesterday, Mrs.

Costello thanked concerned Nigerians through her Facebook page, stating: “Friends, thank you for sharing my message until it reached Mr. Moyo Adeoba’s family.

“I just got a call from his sister who clarified that he was not a student as I had surmised from his FB profile.

According to his sister, he was approximately 62 years old.

“The family has not heard from him since the attack but are hoping that perhaps he is among the injured. However, his name is listed among those that died.

“I will be going to the embassy today to make

sure the officials are aware that he is among the dead and are working with the Belgian authorities to secure his body. I will keep you posted.”

In three coordinated strikes on March 22, terrorists loaded with nail bombs attacked Brussels Airport in Zaventem and the Maalbeek

metro station.

In the attacks, 31 people, excluding the three suicide bombers were killed, and over 300 people were injured.

A Liberian woman, 41 years old, on her way to the United States, to attend the funeral of her stepfather, was also among the dead. She was identified as Elita Weah.

Army Offers N1m Reward for Information on Kidnapped Colonel Shiites refute alleged plot to abduct military officers John Shiklam in Kaduna The 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, has offered a N1 million reward to anyone with any useful information that could lead to the arrest of the abductorsof Colonel Samaila Inusa who was kidnapped in the state on Saturday.

The military officer, serving with the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, near Kaduna, was abducted at about 7.30 pm when he went to visit his in-laws at the Kamanzo area, near NNPC junction, Kaduna.

Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Abdul Usman who disclosed this in a phone interview with THISDAY, said any information would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Usman said the culprits were yet to communicate or demand for any ransom as is common with kidnappers.

However, sources said the army has launched a manhunt for the abductors in a bid to rescue the colonel.

Also, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as the Shiite sect, has distanced

itself from reports that it plans to kidnap military officers to demand the release of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

Zakzaky has been in detention since his arrest following the sect's followers' clash with the Nigerian Army in Zaria between December 12 and 14, 2015.

The presidency was reported to be harbouring a suspicion that the Shiites might have been behind the abduction of Colonel Inusa.

But IMN, in a statement by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, described the reports as mischievous and calculated to give the movement a bad name.

According to him, “Our attention has been drawn to a false, unsubstantiated and mischievous claim that looks more like a planned operation aimed at painting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) black of some ‘intelligence’ report that the IMN may plan the kidnapping of military officers for ransom to force the release of our revered leader, His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai “Typically, this was followed by the alleged kidnap of an army officer in Kaduna with the Nigerian Army issuing a statement calling on the public to give information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

“Soon, some media outlets were quick to quote these

malicious sources linking the IMN with the alleged kidnapping.”

He maintained that it was “obvious that the government and its army were going further with their plan of campaign of calumny and false propaganda against the movement ranging

from smear documentaries on television networks, advertorials in newspapers, sponsoring fake nongovernmental organisations and engagement of some very dubious characters to malign the IMN and its leadership, to engaging in organised crimes and attributing same to the Movement”.

The statement declared that the Shiites under the leadership of Sheikh Zakzaky has never and will never engage in any form of crime to meet any of its objectives.

“Crime and criminal activities are fundamentally sinful and are not in our character.

The Islamic Movement knows that due to official administrative ineptitude and official negligence of constituted authority, a lot of crimes including kidnapping are prevalent in the country.

“As a religious body, the IMN condemns and preaches against all forms of crime.

Therefore, it is virtually illogical and unreasonable for anyone to presume that the IMN would turn around to engage in such acts of immorality,”

the statement said.

The sect further maintained that it is a peaceful mass movement, with enlightened and responsible members, adding that for close to four decades now, it has conducted its activities in the most civilised manner and “cannot in any way be derailed from that golden track record”.

“IMN will therefore never be lured or diverted into any form of crime or violence. We are forced to believe that the government and its army are resorting to these vicious campaigns in desperation.

“They wish not only to bury their crimes against humanity, but also to justify the bestiality they meted on the innocent and unarmed members of the movement between 12th and 14th of December 2015, including burning IMN members alive, sexual mutilation and harassment of women, as well as abduction and illegal detention of members including the leader of the movement, besides killing over 1,000 unarmed citizens,” the statement alleged.

NIGERIANS MOURN PASSING OF FIERY LAWYER, ACTIVIST AND PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL, TUNJI BRAITHWAITE was a patriotic Nigerian, whose contributions to the social and political advancement of the country will not be easily forgotten.

According to the former governor, Dr. Braithwaite was an accomplished legal luminary, an astute politician and a resolute activist, who used his intellectual endowment in fighting for a just and equitable society.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Kunle Oyewumi, Kalu said: “The passing of Dr. Tunji Braithwaite is painful as he died at a time the country needed his counsel on national issues. He was an outstanding statesman by all standards.”

Also, fellow lawyer and rights activist, Mr. Festus Keyamo, described the late Braithwaite as a “true and thorough revolutionary”.

He used his revolutionary ideas to challenge the status quo and all anti-people policies of all regimes.

“I came into close contact with him many times when we planned various protests in his house in Victoria Island. The last notable one was the fuel subsidy protest in January 2012, which we coordinated from his residence.

“Nigeria has lost a loud voice against oppression, against bad government and against the status quo,” Keyamo said.

In a statement, the Nigerian Leaders of Conscience, under the aegis of Project Nigeria (Nigeria Consensus Group), Pro National Conference Organization (PRONACO) and the National Action Movement (NAM) said they had once again been outsmarted by the sudden exit of Braithwaite, whom they termed a “key pillar of Nigeria’s revolutionary march”.

The group in a statement by the spokesman of PRONACO, said his demise was indeed shocking and unevisaged by his associates, coming at a very important moment of the country’s transition into formidable progressive change under the able watch of

President Muhammadu Buhari, his long-standing political ally in various democratic trenches “We are hereby compelled to note that Tunji Braithwaite, a foremost revolutionary advocate during his life time has inspired and led various popular movements of the Nigerian peoples and masses.

“He will be especially remembered for initiating and leading the Nigerian Advance Party founded in 1978 among several other progressive democratic platforms which he co-founded with other progressive leaders of Nigeria.

“While mourning the sudden vacuum created by his departure, we wish to proudly salute

his innumerable heroic effort and interventions towards revolutionary change in the country, especially on the national democratic platforms such as PRONACO led by Chief Anthony Enahoro of blessed memory, Nigerians Unite for Democracy (NUD) jointly initiated by Icons like GMB, now PMB, the late Odimegwu Ojukwu and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, among other progressive associates of Braithwaite.”

In his message, former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu expressed sadness at the passing away of Braithwaite.

A statement by his media office said the death has left a vacuum in the political

firmament of Nigeria, adding: “But though dead, he lives behind a robust political legacy and his vibrant intellectual contributions to the polity will remain relevant for a long time to come.

“He was a staunch advocate of a united and progressive Nigeria. Dr Braithwaite started with the forming of the National Advance Party at a very young age. From then on, there was no stopping him.

“His seminal interventions helped to sharpen Nigeria’s moral orientation, even as he strove to weld politics with morality in a bid to bring good governance to Nigeria. He will be missed," it concluded.

said he was unaware of the matter in court, pointing out that he had not been served the processes.

He also dismissed the proceedings as “frivolous, ridiculous and laughable”, promising, nonetheless, that he will meet the PDP in court.

Amaechi further asked the applicants a number of questions, which would most certainly make its way to the court in its determination of the motion of notice filed by the PDP. He asked: “Who has the

powers to deploy soldiers according to our constitution and laws? Does Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, have powers to deploy soldiers anywhere in the country?

“If Amaechi as Minister of Transportation does not deploy soldiers, why is he being dragged into the matter?

And is the court saying that soldiers can’t be deployed for the safety and protection of lives and property when there is a clear need to do so?

“However, like I said earlier, we will meet them in court.”

PDP COMMENCES COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST AMAECHI, ARMY CHIEFS, OTHERS a court injunction restraining Amaechi, the army and the federal government from deploying soldiers during the rerun elections.

Joined as respondents in the suit then were Amaechi (1st), Chief of Defence Staff (2nd), Chief of Army Staff (3rd), Brigadier General Steve Olabanji, Brigade Commander, 2nd Amphibious Brigade, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt (4th), INEC (5th), REC, Rivers State (6th), the Governor of Rivers State (7th) and the Government of Nigeria (8th).

Justice George Omereji of High Court 13 subsequently, in a judgment on March 16, granted an interim injunction restraining the respondents from deploying soldiers for the exercise, in line with the fundamental rights of the applicants.

He said the interim injunction was based on a judgment by the Appeal Court, in 2015 in the case between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and others, detailing the noninvolvement of the army and the armed forces in elections.

The presiding judge had subsequently adjourned till March 24 for further hearing on the substantive application.

However, the military authorities flagrantly disregarded the court order as soldiers were massively deployed and seen all over the state, monitoring the conduct of the legislative rerun elections.

The applicants, in the motion on notice, therefore prayed the court to grant them two orders, namely: that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth respondents be committed

to prison for disobeying the order made by the court on March 16.

Secondly, the applicants – PDP and Obuah – sought for “such further or other order(s) that the Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance”.

The presiding judge, Justice Omereji, has adjourned further hearing on the matter till April 14.

Reacting to the attempt to commit him to prison, Amaechi, in a statement by his media office yesterday,

TUSDAY MARCH 29, 2016 • T H I S D AY

9

NEWS

News Editor Davidson Iriekpen Email davidson.iriekpen@thisdaylive.com, 08111813081

Metuh: APC Has Nothing to Offer, Deceived Nigerians With Empty Promises Says party will be flushed out in 2019

Joseph Ushigiale in Lagos Breaking his silence for the first time since his arrest and prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, has described the lingering fuel crisis crippling economic activities nationwide as a clear evidence that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) merely hoodwinked Nigerians with empty campaign promises of eldorado in order to vote the party into power and in the end, has nothing but pain and suffering to offer.

Reacting to the daily pains and anguish Nigerians are forced to face in the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Metuh in an exclusive e-mailed interview with THISDAY, said with the current state of the economy and the hopelessness in the polity, PDP would flush out the ineffectual APC from power in 2019.

He explained that the crushing difficulties the citizenry are forced to experience daily coupled with the president’s recent appeal for Nigerians to be patient with his administration were evidence that the “jury is out” on APC’s campaign promises.

“The dust shielding all the lies and propaganda against PDP has now cleared. The citizens have come to realise that they were misled. Rising inflation, lack of palliative programmes, abandoned infrastructure around the country, insecurity, inability to provide basic amenities like fuel, increased unemployment, youth restiveness, lack of with foreign exchange for legitimate business transactions, decline in direct foreign investment, above all, the growing impunity of the APC government at all levels will spell doom for it in 2019,” he insisted.

Metuh also accused the APC-led government of promising Nigerians what it could not deliver and acknowledged that the PDP

lost the presidency to APC’s superior propaganda machine which orchestrated half-truths and lies to unseat the PDP in the 2015 elections.

According to him, “I can tell you that our party was a victim of calculated propaganda orchestrated by the then opposition, which the unsuspecting public bought. While we were being mindful and decent in running only an issues-based campaign that was predicated on facts and truth, the then opposition was busy pushing all sorts of falsehood into the polity.”

Metuh explained that the ruling party’s poor performance to date was hardly surprising because it has neither a clear cut manifesto nor ideology, and predicted the implosion of the APC in the near future, adding that the veil that had covered Nigerians has now been lifted and Nigerians have now realised that all the promises were a hoax.

According to him, “To tell you the truth, I do not see the APC as a political party. It is merely a vehicle through which some individuals rode to acquire power by means of propaganda. That is why it does not have an ideology or clear-cut manifesto. All it had was a sort of bandwagon change mantra and unrealistic list of promises which the people have now realise are a hoax.”

The PDP spokesman added: “The APC has since lost its bandwagon followership and cannot face the challenge of governance. On the other hand, the PDP has regained the confidence of Nigerians and is ready to ride back to power. So in 2019, it is not only that the PDP will overwhelmingly beat the APC in the presidential election, but we would also regain all the states and constituencies we lost to the APC.” Reflecting on the PDP’s loss to APC in last year’s general election, Metuh said: “As the spokesperson of the PDP, I would say that there were certain mistakes that were made from which lessons have been learnt. As a party that endeared

FG Sends Photograph of Suicide Bomber to Chibok Community for Identification Tobi Soniyi in Abuja Photographs of the suspected Boko Haram bombers who claimed to be one of the 219 Chiboks girls have been sent to the Chibok community for possible identification, the Presidency disclosed yesterday.

The girl was arrested by the Camerounian authorities.

A statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said Camerounian health and security officials had started providing medical care to the girl.

Shehu said the girl was found to be heavily drugged and bore several injuries on her body.

He also said the girl’s health condition had delayed her movement to the far north regional capital of Cameroun, Maroua, as earlier planned.

Shehu said that pictures of the arrested suspected bomber obtained

by Nigerian officials indicated that the girl was likely a minor, between ages nine to 12 years.

Shehu said the girl had accomplice whose age was put at about 30 years or more.

He said both spoke only in Kanuri language.

Shehu said: ”Considering the well-known guidelines regarding the publication of photography of minors, we have decided to forward the pictures of the suspected bomber to the Murtala Muhammed Foundation for verification by interested Chibok community stakeholders.

“The Ministry of Women Affairs, the Nigerian High Commission in Cameroun and other agencies of government will continue to work together with other stakeholders to verify all the issues.”

democratic principles for 16 years, we accepted the results of the elections in good faith. As far as we were concerned, Nigerians spoke with regard to how they saw things at that material time and we have moved on.”

Speaking on what the PDP is doing to reposition and retake the presidency in 2019, he explained that “after the elections, we took time to do some stocktaking. We reviewed our activities through the post elections committee headed

by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

“This committee made important findings and recommendations and we have started the implementation of those recommendations. I have no doubt

that our party will bounce back stronger and better because we still remain the only true national party, committed to the national interest and overall wellbeing of the Nigerian people, irrespective of our imperfections,” Metuh added.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE

L-R: A former Provost, Cathedral Church of Christ, Rev. Yinka Omololu; widow, Mrs. Grace Braithwaite; and Vicar, St. Paul’s Church, Breadfruit, Lagos, Ven. Akinwande Godwin-Odubena, during a condolence visit to the family of late Tunji Braithwaite in Lagos...yesterday

Nigeria Winning War against Boko Haram, Says Obasanjo Military kills 25 terrorists, rescues 18 more hostages Michael Olugbode inMaiduguri andSenator Iroegbu in Abuja Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said the nation is winning the war against the Boko Haram insurgency.

This came as troops from the 151 Task Force Battalion, 21 Brigade on Sunday cleared remnants of Boko Haram terrorists from three villages in Iza general area, killing 25 Boko Haram terrorists and recovered some weapons.

Obasanjo, who was in Maiduguri, Borno State, to inaugurate some projects as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), said since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power, he had evolved the right strategies in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency and that the insecurity which had ravaged the nation was under control.

The former president, who sneaked into Maiduguri in 2011 to initiate the process of dialogue with the insurgency group, said there was a difference from 2011 and now, with the situation showing that there was gradual return of normalcy.

Obasanjo, during a courtesy call on the state Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said: “A lot of water has passed under the bridge in this part of the country. I must not forget to commiserate with all

our people in this state and indeed the entire North-east who have been victims of insurgency in the way we have never witnessed it in this country before.

“As I have said with the governor, I do travel a lot in Africa and outside Africa and wherever I have gone in recent times, what people want to know is what and how Nigeria is coping with the situation of insurgency. Today, I think we are not out of the woods yet but it would appear that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“There is no doubt that with the combined effort at the local level, at the state level and at the federal level and even at the community level, our security forces are on the ascendancy over the forces of destruction, the menace and danger of insurgency that we have experienced for almost six years now.”

He lamented that: “There is no family in this state that has not suffered lost,” and asked the governor to accept his condolence and that of his entire family.

Obasanjo said Shettima and the entire people of the state have “shown what can be done if people resolve not to give way to evil,” adding that “we just pray for the repose of the souls of those who have lost their lives.”

Shettima on his part, paid tribute to leadership qualities of the former

president, insisting that the Boko Haram crisis would not have degenerated this bad if he were at the helm during the outbreak of the insurgency.

He added that should Obasanjo had been in power, the Chibok schoolgirls would not have been in captivity by now, lamenting that it took President Goodluck Jonathan 19 days after the kidnap of the girls to call him on phone on the issue.

He said from testimonies of former governor, the former president was said to be on top of security issues in all the states of the country, and at various times adverted what could have been major security breaches.

He said without the “Nigerianness in you, this country would have been divided along religious lines between 2001 and 2003 when hate brewed from the North to the South over our diversity of faith. Someone else would probably have thought of exploiting the sentiments and division to make political gains ahead of the 2003 reelection but not President Obasanjo.”

Meanwhile, the Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, in a statement yesterday said the cleared villages were Mballeri, Shuari 1 and Shuari 2.

In addition, Usman said, the troops also rescued 18 persons held captive by the terrorists.

“They comprised of two men, seven women and nine children. The rescued persons have been moved to the Brigade’s headquarters for further screening and care,” he said.

Unfortunately, he added, one Civilian JTF accompanying the troops felt off a vehicle and sustained some injuries.

Usman said the injured vigilante has since been evacuated to the unit’s Regimental Aid Post for medical treatment and he is in stable condition.

The military also said it had cleared three more Boko Haram camps, recovered several items and arrested two other terrorists in parts of the state.

It said the troops of 155 Task Force Battalion, 21 Brigade conducted a clearance operation aimed at clearing remnants of the terrorists hiding in at Dipcheri, Jere and Chogolo towns.

Usman said the troops cleared all the three camps successfully without any casualty on the part of the troops.

During the operations, he said, the troops came in contact with elements of the terrorists group and arrested two suspected members.

“The troops also recovered abandoned vehicles, motorcycles and a bicycle as well as locally made single and double barrel guns belonging to the terrorists.

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TUSDAY MARCH 29, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

NNPC Unveils Strategies to End Current Fuel Scarcity in Next Few Days Seeks to make Nigeria net exporter Senate c’ttee summons Kachikwu Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Ejiofor Alike in Lagos Apparently miffed by the controversy generated by the declaration of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, that the current petrol shortages could last up to two months, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has unveiled strategies to end the scarcity within the next few days.

The corporation has also reassured Nigerians that it was on top of the petroleum products supply and distribution situation, and remained committed to eliminating this endemic issue once and for all within the next few days.

NNPC’s Group General Manager in charge of Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Garba Deen Muhammed, said in a statement last night that in the medium term, the corporation was working on sustainable strategies to permanently address the issues and challenges facing the midstream and downstream sectors.

According to him, the overarching objective is to make Nigeria a net exporter of Petroleum products as was the case in the 1970s.

“Our commitment to ramp up our local refining capacity and availability remains unwaivered with the ongoing rehabilitation works targeted at running all Refineries at a minimum 70 per cent capacity utilisation within the next eight to nine months. This is in addition to our initiative of increasing the combined capacity

of the domestic refineries through co-locating smaller but cost efficient modular refineries within the existing refineries premises within a time frame of 12-24 months,” Muhammed explained.

He further stated that as a result of the challenges that major oil marketers faced in contributing their supply quota due to constraint in accessing foreign exchange and outstanding subsidy obligations, the corporation was burdened with the obligation to guarantee almost 100 per cent in the national supply.

Muhammed noted that since the domestic crude oil supply of 445,000 barrels per day could only guarantee about 50 per cent of the 45 million litres national requirement for petrol, NNPC had secured presidential approval to take additional crude oil volume to guarantee national supply of petrol.

To curb storage and logistics challenges, he said the corporation was working on a joint partnership with technically and financially capable investors to ensure that petroleum products transportation and storage facilities were efficiently operated on an open-access common-carrier user-tariff basis.

“Some of these depots will be nominated as strategic reserves while we take possession of a strategic reserve vessel in the next three months. Tangible results will be delivered within the next three - six months.

Changes usually take time, effort and a lot of focus. We understand the plight of Nigerians and the impact on the overall economy.

Shell Increases Gas Production in Eastern Niger Delta Ejiofor Alike Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture has announced that more gas is being produced from Agbada field in the Eastern Niger Delta in support of federal government’s aspiration of increasing domestic gas production for manufacturing and power generation.

This development is coming at a time Nigeria’s power supply has dropped significantly due to gas shortages to power stations Power generation, which hit 5,074 megawatts on February 2, dropped to about 3,700MW yesterday due to gas shortages and transmission challenges.

But Shell’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Precious Okolobo, said in a statement last night that some 10 million standard cubic feet of non-associated gas per day (MMscf/d), which was produced from the Agbada Early Gas Production Facility (EGPF), into the eastern domestic gas network on March 8, 2016, had already ramped up to 20MMscf/d of gas, with 1,500 barrels per day of oil.

Okolobo explained that a peak production of 40MMscf/d is expected to be achieved, in addition to oil production of about 2,500 barrels per day.

According to him, the milestone comes as SPDC JV’s Afam VI - with

650 megawatt- capacity - continues to deliver power to the national grid.

General Manager Projects, SPDC, Toyin Olagunju said the company was pleased to support efforts towards increasing gas supply for manufacturers and power plants.

“We are also pleased that the project was delivered in record time - 14 months from initiation to first gas – within budget and most importantly, safely. We acknowledge the support of NAPIMS and other JV partners, without which the milestone would not have been possible,” Olagunju said.

The additional gas will further boost gas availability on the eastern domestic gas network and will be available to enhance power generation by over 150MW. The early gas project was initiated in January 2015 pending the completion of the main Agbada non-associated gas plant.

SPDC pioneered the production and delivery of gas to domestic consumers and export markets.

Early this year, SPDC signed a gas sale agreement with the Bayelsa State Government under which it will sell gas to the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC) for the purpose of power supply to the Kolo Creek Gas Turbine.

Shell is the only international oil and gas company to have set up a gas distribution business in the country, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG).

We genuinely empathize with the attendant sufferings and wish to reassure that we are focused and committed to bring an end to this situation within the next few days and we kindly call on all Nigerians to partner with us on this journey to allowing the whole process of change come into fruition,” he explained.

Muhammed further explained that the current administration inherited a huge catalog of issues and problems in the downstream sector not limited to arrears of subsidy payments to oil marketers, corruption and inefficiencies in the supply and distribution chain, incessant vandalism of pipelines, and refineries poor performance.

According to him, a combination

of these issues resulted in most oil majors completely pulling out from the importation business and NNPC assuming a near 100 per cent importation obligation without the necessary logistics put in place.

He said in line with the change agenda of this administration, NNPC had initiated and made progress on various key solutions to providing a lasting end to most of the issues.

One of the issues that had been successfully addressed, according to him was the unpaid arrears arising from the subsidy regime had necessitated most oil marketers to stop all forms of involvement in petroleum products imports.

“Thankfully, with the firm support of Mr. President and

the National Assembly, we greatly reduced this debt burden and since January 1, 2016 we have been able to eliminate subsidy payments by managing prices at current levels through price modulation. This has resulted to savings of over N100billion monthly for the nation,” he added.

He also added that the nationwide petroleum supply and distribution had been ramped up to all states to ensure product availability in the country, stressing that the current supply to states was in excess of the normal consumption especially in the five major consuming cities.

Muhammed also stated that monitoring had been intensified to ensure full compliance with

approved prices.

According to the NNPC spokesman, violations of approved prices and hoarding of petroleum products attracted the following penalties: “Level 1: Giving out of petroleum products free to the public. Level 2: Sealing off fuel stations found to be hoarding petroleum products and payment of a fine. Level 3: Withdrawal of Marketer’s licence,” he explained.

He said any government official found conniving/wanting would be sanctioned accordingly in line with public service guidelines and procedures.

Muhammed also encouraged

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OBJ IN MAIDUGURI

L-R: Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Al-Amin Elkanemi; and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, when the former president paid a courtesy call at the Shehu’s palace in Maiduguri.... yesterday

Oshiomhole under Attack for Defending CBN Governor’s Secret Recruitment Tobi Soniyi in Abuja For describing those calling for the removal of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over secret recruitment, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has come under heavy bashing.

A civil society organisation, Advocacy for Societal Rights Advancement and Development Initiative (ASRADI), described Oshiomhole as, “the governor of a state in Nigeria who looks, dresses, talks and behaves like a palm wine tapper.”

In a statement issued by its Executive Director, Mr. Deolu Oyinlola, ASRADI said while it refused “to be dragged into a mudslinging war with the garrulous character who assumed the role of spokesman for both President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN governor,” it would not allow Oshiomhole to obfuscate issues with his muddle-headed musings.

The statement read: “In order for the public to decide

who - between those calling for Emefiele’s removal and the classless state governor is politicising what ASRADI believes is a straight forward case of abuse of office and betrayal of public trust, we would like to pose the following questions: “Is it ‘faceless and shadowy’ groups (according to the loose cannon and his fake coalition of “CSOs”) that forced Emefiele to unlawfully release raw cash of forty seven million dollars ($47million) in 17 suit cases to Sambo Dasuki as part of what is now famously known as Dasukigate? Is a CBN governor who is suspected to be deeply involved in what, clearly, is money laundering, standing on any moral high ground to remain in that office?

“Is it our loquacious pigmy’s ‘palm wine drinkers’ that scandalously employed the sons/daughters/nephews/ nieces/wards of people like President Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice-President Abubakar

Atiku, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba. Internal Affairs Minister, Dambazzau, Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Alli, NNPC GMD, Ibe Kachikwu, Governor of Adamawa State, the Deputy Governors of Delta and Bayelsa States; to mention but a few?

“At the last count, Emefiele has secretly employed 909 privileged Nigerians without advertising a single vacancy! Which CSO worthy of that appellation would support such a patently anomalous and egregiously corrupt exercise? Little wonder, no individual’s name was associated with a release that was attributed to a phoney ‘coalition of CSOs! It is, in all probability, safe to conclude that Emefiele and the state governor in question – between them - created the ‘coalition’ out of desperation.”

The group said it was at a loss as to what the connection was between the aforementioned cases of indiscretion on the part

of the CBN governor, and the introduction of biometric verification numbers, the addition of 41 items to the import prohibition list or the reorganisation of the operations of BDCs as preposterously suggested by the governor and his suspicious coalition of CSOs. “It is a shame and an embarrassment for someone who became governor of a state based on a reputation of being a comrade, would curiously make it his business to be defending the indefensible so senselessly?” the group asked.

It stated that with leaders like ‘this interloping fellow who seems to suffer permanently from verbal diarrhoea,’ Nigeria was in deeper trouble than previously thought.

The group advised Emefiele to jump rather than be pushed because if he had any decency, he would by now have tendered his resignation and turned himself in at the offices of the anti-graft agencies.

TUSDAY MARCH 29, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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NEWS

ONSA Media Agency Resigns as Chief Consultant to FOSSRA Says Jon Ode Panel is misleading Buhari with biased reports

The chief media consultant to the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA), Mr. Yushau Shuaib, has resigned his appointment after three years serving as an intermediary between all the major security and response agencies and the media in Nigeria.

Shuaib, who owns PRNigeria and was engaged by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), to serve as media consultant to military, security, intelligence and response organisations under a unified platform, had as his core mandate the responsibility of positioning the agencies for desired public perception and changing the negative narratives regarding the war against terror.

In his notice of resignation served on the Chairman of the forum and Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, Shuaib said he could no longer continue to serve FOSSRA which is under the auspices of Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) because of what he termed “misleading reports by the presidential committee under the same ONSA” for unjustly accusing almost all institutions and individuals that served the office without fair hearing.

Shuaib said: “The retired Air Vice Marshal Jon Ode-Presidential Panel under ONSA is merely criminalising critical institutions and indicting groups and individuals in the media without being arraigned for the accused to prove their innocence.”

He queried the rationale behind empowering a Panel of Procurement of Arms that is composed of retired and serving military officers to also be saddled with probing contracts and services that have nothing to do with arms and ammunition.

The media consultant pointed out that “while the Jon Ode led-panel deliberately refuses to acknowledge successes recorded by previous administration in the war on terror, the team has only succeeded in misleading the president with its biased reports that create unnecessary anxiety in the polity.”

He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to be wary of those whose stock in trade is to blackmail and destroy others apparently as a way and means of venting their anger over their past frustrations or exerting revenge against their perceived enemies or rivalries while in the service.

“I wonder if President Buhari was able to conduct comprehensive background checks on some members of the panel before their appointments. A mere google check would have provided him a glimpse on the character and ethical capital of some of these individuals who may likely be showing frustrations occasioned by stagnation in posting, arraignment before court martial for indiscipline and fund misappropriation while in service apart from those who might have served as aides to controversial figures,” he said.

Shuaib, who was defending a PR agency, Image Merchants, that works for security agencies since 2013 with over 20 staff on its monthly payroll, said: “It is mere mischief for the Jon Ode-panel to indict an umbrella strategic communication outfit that was not involved in partisan politics but provided proofs of its assignment and paid the full taxes demanded by the panel only for the same panel to turn around and claimed nothing was done just few days after an article we published exposing the lies being orchestrated that no weapons were bought by the previous administration for the prosecution of war on terror.

“The panel was even arguing with us on some contents of the published article forgetting that while most of them were on retirement, we risk our live by engaging top serving military officers on various security issues and on-the-field assessment which we disseminate through the media to the public.

“They seemed to be aggrieved

with the disclosure in the article that the previous administration bought sophisticated weapons for the military, which included Alpha jets, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), APCs, MineResistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunitions, highly sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 battle tanks and modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters.”

In the same statement, Shuaib clarified that at the twilight of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, more than 22 towns in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States were recovered and confirmed with video and pictorial evidences through military press releases. Some of the towns recovered before the coming of President Buhari are: Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bita, BuniYadi, Damboa, Gamboru Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, and others. A clear testimony to some of the accomplishments was the

official DHQ release dated March 16, 2015, with reference No: DHQ/ ABJ/901/32/DDI and a title: ‘Troops Finally Rout Terrorists from Bama and Last Stronghold in Yobe.’ It further revealed that the Jonathan administration achieved the feat through adequate funding of Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) and participating neighbouring countries in additional to recruitments of ‘Special M Forces’ that stormed the terrorists’ camps from the air. The combined and collaborative security efforts, according to the consultant, weakened Boko Haram terrorists from disrupting 2015’s general elections which Buhari eventually won.

Surprisingly an article published by an aide of President Buhari eulogising Dasuki over the accomplishments in the war against terror by Jonathan’s administration, which Shuaib cited in his article, has been deleted from the website of the newsmedia that published it. The original article where the media link was provided can still be read from this: (http://

yashuaib.com/2015/12/openletter-to-presidential-spokespersonfemi-adesina/) Shuaib stated that while the Jon Ode panel deliberately refused to appreciate PR intervention in crisis management, “for genuine reasons and concern, our strategic team manages many humiliating and embarrassing reports from leakages, including alleged terrorists’ attacks in the hometowns of top security officers in the current administration.”

The consultant warned that: “While it is wrong to criminalise the military by subjecting their officers to scrutiny in an agency headed by a policeman, it is appalling the continued exposure of our judiciary to public ridicule in the sensationalised anti-corruption campaigns. In this context, it is foolhardy for anyone to now contemplate using a PR agency to rubbish media integrity as another critical stakeholder. PR people engage the media professionally and responsibly to achieve strategic objectives.

Again, Nigeria Passes ICAO Safety Assessment Audit Chinedu Eze The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which carried out one-week safety assessment of the nation’s aviation industry last week, has given Nigeria a pass mark under its ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).

In 2006, ICAO carried out similar audit under its safety oversight programme and Nigeria passed the assessment.

Since then, the country has followed ICAO regulations in the implementation of policies and programmes that guide the aviation industry.

The spokesman of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, said a preliminary audit report presented by a four-man team at the closing meeting of the programme once again authenticated the progress and development of aviation industry in Nigeria.

These results, he said: “Clearly indicated that Nigeria has done excellently well according to the auditors.”

Adurogboye said the presentation was presided over by the team leader of the auditors, Mr. JeanClaude Waffo, who was joined by three team members to present their assessment of the aviation industry in Nigeria.

Each member gave an individual assessment of all the delineated areas that include legislation (LEG), organisation (ORG), accident and

incident investigation (AIG), air navigational services (ANS) and aerodrome and ground aids (AGA).

According to NCAA spokesman, during the presentation, the team leader and the members articulated all their systemic findings in the course of the 11-day USOAP Audit conducted on Nigeria.

“While there were areas that were identified as open items that need to be closed (areas that are yet to meet the given safety standards), the auditors were unanimously very satisfied with the level of improvement in the aviation industry in Nigeria. The auditors were highly impressed with the stellar preparation for the audit by all concerned and claimed that this made the exercise a huge success,” he said.

However, he said the final report would be produced and sent to Canada for review and final assent, adding that this would be done only when comments on the draft report have been received from Nigeria.

The leader of the team, Waffo, confirmed that the draft results would be produced 90 days after today’s presentation.

“Thereafter, Nigeria is expected to produce a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) which will provide room for comments and observations within 45 days.

“The final report is only to be expected and produced after 30 days of receipt and acknowledgement of comments,” he added.

EASTER REVELLERS

Parents and their children having fun at the Apapa Amusement Park to celebrate the Easter in Lagos...yesterday Sunday Adigun

Presidency: Buhari Has N3tn to Spend on Projects To release funds soon to ease economic hardship

Paul Obi in Abuja Following growing concerns over the untold hardship borne

by Nigerians due to unpaid wages, the fuel shortages, constant power outages and job losses, the presidency yesterday said the federal government was expected to spend a portion of the N3 trillion sterilised in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the coming weeks on projects in a bid to cushion the effects of the economic downturn.

The president’s media aide, Mr. Garba Shehu, told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the president aims to introduce various interventions that would bolster the economy, thereby enhancing

spending and investment in the economy.

Shehu spoke on the sidelines of the child’s dedication ceremony held in Abuja. According to him, the coming months will witness robust investment in infrastructure, targeting critical sectors of the economy.

While urging Nigerians to “be patient,” he said “this president has more money in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) today that he can spend than any other president in this country”.

“He has more than N3 trillion that he saved in the TSA. You know that in 2014 and 2015, if you look at the entire budget of the Presidenbt Goodluck Jonathan government, it was not more than N4 trillion

for each of those years.

“In 2016, you have N3 trillion, money set aside to be spent on projects, not salaries and overheads.

So in a matter of time, this country will be flooded with money, because projects would come and quite unlike what we had in the past.”

Shehu further explained that the current approach of the administration on contracts would be beneficial to contractors as opposed to previous governments when there was no cash backing for the contracts.

He said: “Government will give jobs and back it with money.

So Nigerians will be happy again.

In a short while, let the budget be signed and life will pick up,” he added.

Also speaking, wife of the former

vice-president, Mrs. Titi Abubakar, urged Nigerians to continue to endure the present economic hardship as the All Progressives Congress (APC) government has good plans to arrest the situation.

Abubakar said: “If at this particular time, there is change, we want to put this country right.

You know this country was found in a mess, so government has to put things right before everything starts getting better again.

“We all have to endure the hardship for the time being, because if anything gets spoilt, before it gets good, it has to take some time. We all know there is economic hardship, but the APC government wants to put things right,” she stated.

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TUSDAY MARCH 29, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

Buhari, Dogara, Amosun, Others Praise Tinubu at 64 Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti President Muhammadu Buhari, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, have expressed warm felicitation with the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he clocks 64 years today.

A statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Buhari believed the rising political profile of Tinubu since he was elected a senator in 1992 was a testimony to his forthrightness, diligence and doggedness, the same qualities that had endeared him to the electorate and given him all-round success as a private sector worker, a businessman and two-term Governor of Lagos State.

As one of the pillars of the APC, Buhari commended the visionary leadership style of the Asiwaju of Lagos, who is also the Jagaban of the Borgu Kingdom in Niger State, for creating a formidable opposition party in Nigeria that worked vigorously within a short period to oust a party that had been in power for 16 years.

The statement read: “The president assures the national leader that his patriotism and commitment to democracy and good governance, and his generous spirit will always be remembered and appreciated by generations of Nigerians.

“He prays that the Almighty God will grant the Asiwaju long life, good health, wisdom and prosperity as he steadfastly

supports efforts to promote the development of Nigeria.”

On his part, Dogara expressed his birthday wishes to Tinubu, describing him as a formidable political force who has brought changes to the political landscape of Nigeria.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media and Public Affairs) Mr. Turaki Hassan, the Speaker expressed felicitations on behalf of the House of Representatives.

The statement reads in part: “On this joyous occasion of your birthday, we in the House of Representatives, salute you, great leader, for the milestones you have attained in Nigeria. Your feats are bold and exceptional; from business to governance and politics. As a governor, you made sweeping reforms that till date, your successors are still building on and making Lagos State proud.

“In politics, you have been a formidable force, helping to put together a great political party that won power at the centre in Nigeria . You have proved to be a true hero of democracy, a light that cannot be concealed!

As you mark yet another year, my prayer for you is that God will continue to consolidate your efforts and crown them all with success,” the statement added.

Also, Amosun congratulated Tinubu, saying“On this occasion of your birthday, I join you and your immediate and political families in celebrating the abundant grace of God on your life.”

The Ogun State governor added: “Your life has been an eventful one dotted by numerous achievements and accomplishments. Nigeria has benefitted immensely from your fountain of knowledge, wealth of experience, political sagacity and leadership acumen. The remarkable impact you have made in all spheres of human

Wike: I Won’t Complete Amaechi’s Monorail Project Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that though his administration will strive to complete numerous projects abandoned by predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi, the abandoned monorail will not be one of them.

“Rivers people have told me not to touch the monorail left behind by the other government,” he said today in an interview on Channels TV. Insiders said the project initiated by Amaechi has gulped over $400 million, with the project far from being completed.

In contrast, Cross River State that has spent less than $40 million has its own monorail almost ready, he said yesterday on Channels TV’s current affairs morning programme, Sunrise Daily The monorail is a system designed by Intamin, and is similar to the monorail that was constructed in Moscow Russia for $240 million by the same monorail manufacturer.

According to experts following the monorail development, the Moscow system that connects to the Moscow subway is more extensive than the Rivers system with more frequency of traffic and sophistication.

“The two companies building the pylons and track work designed by Intamin in Nigeria were ARCUS GIBBS Nigeria Limited. and TSI Nigeria Limited.

Between the two partners and contractors with Rivers State, at least N40 billion ($270 million) was spent.

Wike had alleged that an additional $135 million was spent on other related works, including standard infrastructure adjustments to clear the way for the rail line.

In Calabar Cross River State, the same firm Intamin, building the Rivers monorail, partnered the government there to build a monorail system for N5 billion ($36 million).

The Calabar system is reportedly already functioning and is now conducting test runs.

endeavour remains a reference point.”

Governor Amosun also seized the occasion to pray that the Almighty Allah (SWT) will preserve Tinubu for many more years, in good health.

Similarly, Fayose in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Idowu Adelusi in Ado-Ekiti, described Tinubu as a leader and pillar in Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole.

The governor said the APC national leader had over the years proven to be a great political figure in the country.

“I heartily felicitate with Ahmed Tinubu as he clocks 64 on March 29. Whether one likes it or not, Tinubu has

become a political pillar and leader not only in Yorubaland but in Nigeria.

Aregbesola in the statement signed by the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, described Tinubu as a true democrat and bridge-builder He portrayed Tinubu as one gallant Nigerian who fought not only for democracy but also the expansion of the nation’s political space.

He highlighted Tinubu’s financial management ingenuity, unparalleled political mobilisation capacity and the ability to keep his large political family together as some of the reasons Tinubu would continue to be celebrated and revered

for a long time to come.

He stated that the further expansion of the political space of the country also makes Tinubu a bridge-builder and an astute politician, who brought to pass the prediction of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that the progressive South and North will one day come together to rule the nation.

Aslo, Kalu congratulated Tinubu, adding that the front-line politician is a force to reckon with beyond the shores of Nigeria.

According to the businessmancum-politician, over the years, Tinubu has remained on the side of the masses in all ramifications, adding that the large cult-like followership of the APC

chieftain is clear testament of his selflessness and large heart.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Prince Kunle Oyewumi, Kalu said: “I join millions of Tinubu’s well-wishers, supporters, followers, political associates and family in celebrating an icon whose contributions to the social, economic and political development of Nigeria is commendable.

“Your doggedness, forthrightness and passion for a just society have earned you goodwill across the country regardless of political affiliations.

“During the military era you sustained your stand as a welfarist despite the humiliation from the powers that be.

PREACHING RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

L-R:Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, Sokoto State Governor and Guest Lecturer, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; and Deputy Governor of Osun State, Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, at the convocation lecture of Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State...yesterday

NNPC Unveils Strategies to End Current Fuel Scarcity in Next Few Days the general public to report product hoarders and saboteurs of this administration’s change efforts, adding that they are wittingly fighting every bold change effort currently being put in place.

He also charged motorists and other fuel users to shun panic buying and undue return trips, stressing that this attitude emboldens marketers to hoard products.

“Supply constraints due to foreign exchange challenges are being resolved through collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria on innovative ways of closing the gaps in accessing foreign exchange. Similarly, as a result of credible leadership provided by the Minster of State, Petroleum Resources/Group Managing Director, NNPC, the major international upstream oil companies have indicated their willingness to support major oil marketing companies with some of the required foreign exchange.

We are vigorously pursuing an improved model for ‘crude oil for refined product’ exchange (the Direct Sale – Direct Purchase arrangement) which eliminates

inefficiencies with an attendant cost saving for the nation of about $1 billion. This will guarantee sustainable product supply to the nation,” Muhammed explained.

Meanwhile, disturbed by the protracted fuel scarcity across the country, the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) yesterday summoned, Kachickwu, to appear before it today and explain why fuel scarcity has continued unabated.

The resolve to summon Kachikwu was the fallout of the committee’s oversight visit to major petrol stations in Abuja metropolis yesterday.

During the tour, the committee expressed concern over nonavailability of petrol in many stations following lack of supply to Abuja from the Suleja depot of the NNPC. According to the committee’s acting Chairman, Jibrin Barau, summoning Kachikwu had become imminent in view of the grave effects of the scarcity on the masses.

Barau disclosed that on-the-spotassessment exercise carried out by the committee was spurred by the concern expressed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, whom

he said asked the committee to intervene and ensure that the crisis was promptly nipped in the bud.

Provoked by the seeming unpromising state of the scarcity, Barau described the situation as unacceptable.

“This situation is very bad and unacceptable; hence, the need for the minister to appear before us tomorrow (today) and unveil his plan on the way out of the chaos to us.

“Even if he doesn’t have any plan yet out of the lingering problem, the Senate President and the entire members of the committee are more than ready to rub minds with him for that needed purpose,” Barau said.

Also speaking on thedevelopment, a member of the committee and Senate Minority Whip, Philip Aduda, emphasised the need for the federal government to promptly bail Nigerians out of their current travails.

Aduda said Nigerians were not interested in the current decision of leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) to engage in name calling over the scarcity, noting that all they care about is the availability of fuel in all

parts of the country.

“The government should look for petrol and ensure that it is given to the people. The current situation is unacceptable; we are Nigerians and it will be bad for us to continue remaining in queues.

“If the APC leaders like, let them blame themselves; that is their problem but the most important thing is for us to have fuel in Nigeria. That is what we are looking for and that is what we want. We want to see all these queues disappear,” he stated.

During the tour, independent marketers put the blame at the doorstep of NNPC, pointing out that the corporation had failed to make adequate supply available to petrol stations in all parts of the country.

One of the marketers at Forte Oil, Maitama, for instance, said whereas NNPC used to supply him between five and six tankers of fuel daily, the supply has now been reduced to three tankers daily.

On the other hand, Oando, Wuse Zone Four’s Manager, Isa Friday, said for a long while, he had not received any supply from NNPC depot in Suleja.

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MARCH 29, 2016

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

COMMENT

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

BUHARI’S STAMP ON THE NIGERIAN PARTY SYSTEM

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The president is reversing the existing system by forcing party members to fund their parties, argues Uchenna Nwankwo

ews making the headlines in recent times in the Nigerian dailies indicates that Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is having problems paying its staff at its national secretariat in Abuja. This problem, it is claimed, is due to lack of funds for the maintenance and running of the party and its organs. The development is in stack deviation from the norm. Usually, the ruling party in Nigeria is awash with funds, which is often windowed to it by government agencies or serving members of the executive arm of government. So how come this dearth of fund being experienced by the ruling APC? The answer, it appears, is that President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to do the usual by not diverting public revenue to fund his party. He just wouldn’t stoop so low as to use corrupt means to rake in money for the party. It is an interesting development!

It is a truism that in the Nigerian political party system, the generality of party members are never expected to make contributions towards the funding of the party. If anything, party members usually have money doled out to them by the party for all manner of activities, especially when their party is in power and therefore has access to public funds. In the less fortunate parties that are not in power, the so-called stakeholders or “owners of the party”; the rich bigwigs or men of means that control the party are expected to cough out huge sums of money from their respective private sources to support the party and to cater for the burgeoning membership most of whom joined up, in the first place, in order to fleece the few party bigwigs as parasites usually do.

The Nigerian political system therefore runs counter to what obtains in the more advanced democracies the world over where every party member, high or low, contributes to the party’s purse through the payment of entry fees, monthly dues and even donations. In this system, there is even a nationally sanctioned limit as to what a single individual can donate to the party. In this system, every member is seen as a stakeholder. And the member sees his financial contributions to the party as a price he has to pay to ensure that the party’s ideology or stand on issues are upheld and pushed to the front burner and into societal reckoning and management. For the individual member, the success of the party in terms of winning power and implementing its set agenda is seen as also the success of the individual members who thirst for the arrival and entrenchment of the party’s ideals or ideology. In the main, this is what informs the drive to join one party or another by different citizens. It is not exactly so in Nigeria. Here the ideology of a party or what the party intends to do with power appears to be of little concern to many members. Consequently, most people in Nigeria do not set out to join a party for the same reasons we decipher in the advanced democracies of the world. They generally join parties for what they can get, especially as hand-outs from the “stakeholders” or the more financially secure individuals, party officials and possible political officeholders from the party.

In this regard, Buhari’s action in not wanting to divert public funds to his party’s coffers appears aimed at changing the status

BUHARI SEEMS TO BE SILENTLY PRODDING NIGERIANS TO PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTHS ARE; LITERALLY TO FUND THEIR DESIRED INCLINATIONS AND HOPEDFOR POLITICAL DIRECTION FOR THEIR COUNTRY, STATES AND LOCAL AREAS

quo. It seems to be primed to reverse the existing party system or the dominant political behaviour in Nigeria by forcing party members, from the base to the top; to fund their respective parties from their private earnings as obtains in the more advanced democracies.

Unlike what we saw during the Babangida regime when government erected offices for political parties at their different levels of operation as well as tried to fund them on a continual basis, Buhari seems to be silently prodding Nigerians to put their money where their mouths are; literally to fund their desired inclinations and hoped-for political direction for their country, states and local areas.

This is a desirable end in itself.

Will Buhari be able to sustain the tempo? That is for the future to tell! One thing is however certain: if Buhari succeeds in this onerous quest, he will have revolutionised the Nigerian party system and politics itself. Who knows, that might also promote ideological politics in Nigeria, provide alluring political choices for the average person as well as reduce the menace and dominance of charlatans in Nigerian politics. This, in my candid opinion, will be most edifying! This is not to say that one is not enthused and appreciative of the giant strides President Buhari is already making with the implementation of his Treasury Single Account (TSA) idea as well as the on-going anti-corruption war. It should be recalled that prior to the introduction of the TSA policy, we had a situation in which a government ministry or parastatal could have as many as 75 bank accounts. This created the loophole for a permanent secretary or some other individuals in the ministry to secretly draw money from some of these accounts for private usage. The NNPC, for instance, had about 100 bank accounts thereby making this kind of treasury looting a common occurrence. Certainly, these policies of the present administration are going to make indelible marks on the life of the average Nigerian as well as change the way politics is played in Nigeria.

The marvellous job Buhari is doing through the implementation of the TSA policy, for instance, including the denial of FOREX for Bureau de Change operations, where dubious individuals have been carting away millions of dollars at cheap official rates only to resell them at high black market rates and become millionaires overnight, can never be wished away. We just cannot continue to gloss over these bare facts and sterling successes of the Buhari presidency as if they are not important or consequential.

I would however personally want the president to complement these efforts with a re-launch of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) – to address the rife indiscipline in the country’s social sector as well as make the anti-corruption war all-embracing and encompassing, providing every citizen with a role or roles to play in the prosecution of the task, because anything that affects all must be tackled by all. This will of course make the crusade self-sustaining and most successful. Indeed, the envisaged new re-invigorated War Against Indiscipline, in my opinion, must be carefully structured and given the ideological and philosophical grounding to make for mass participation and to deliver the expected and needful results for all time.

BETWEEN BRUSSELS AND CHIBOK (2)

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t 9/11, fire teams came from all over the United States, detectives also came, sifting every particle to find evidence which they compiled and which has helped in being better prepared in case some other vermin terrorists were to attempt to terrorise the people.

Every lead was followed; they knew where the Saudis went for training, when they came; they knew their parents, every safe house they stayed from the day they arrived: they plotted their every move that day, etc. They knew their DNA, their modus operandi, etc. In London within hours they knew where the terrorists lived, when they entered the bus or subway, etc. They picked up every scrap of information, sifted them until they had a composite of the perpetrators, their backers, etc. They have since 9/11, and 7/7 gone after those and killed them. They did this by investigation which was helped by the people who kept giving them information. They knew which school the terrorists went to, who their imams were, etc. In the terror attacks that followed in Paris, Germany, Spain, Brussels, and also in New York, in Nairobi, Mumbai citizens came out in their hundreds of thousands, left notes, and flowers, kept vigil – all to show solidarity and to send a powerful message to the terrorist – we remain strong and we will beat you.

In Brussels it was the taxi driver who took them to the airport who provided the vital link.

In Chibok we were told the terrorist came in three trucks – so somebody saw them! But we had no vehicle license plates, no description of the trucks; it would seem that Chibok was all a bubble of its own, unconnected by roads, families, no post offices, no petrol stations, how did they feed themselves and 219 girls – that number of girls passing through

Patrick Dele Cole contends our response to the Chibok abduction is shameful

villages, staying somewhere – no tents, slept under trees, no natural functions or did they clean up after themselves. What did the teachers and their parents say? Did Boko Haram not study the terrain or made preparations – and no one saw anything?

The most criminal of all the negligence was failure to bring in experts. Even in a war situation specialists still operated; in any case, was there war in Chibok? Who has been there? No Okada riders; if it was deserted soon after, surely it is not still deserted. Our soldiers tell us they could not fight Boko Haram because they had no weapons yet the military bosses stole billions with no conscience for 219 girls. Are we to assume that Boko Haram is still operating in Chibok? Obviously not, if the schools have now been rebuilt, thus disturbing further the crime scene. The only thing that is certain in Nigeria is that where there is money Nigerians will covet it.

Chibok is part of the insurgency and the history of Nigeria’s response to that insurgency is despicable.

Let us not go into the bigger issue of the insurgency.

Let’s be specific about Chibok, a national disgrace. It was, apparently not a singular incident: kidnapping of girls had been going on and is still going on.

That seems to be the extent of our knowledge and involvement. Where are the pastors and mullahs of the area? They have no information. There are no neighbouring villages. I remember meeting several megads, (night watchmen) who came from Chibok and who were housing their relatives in Lagos. I interviewed them. They told me about the general horrors of the North East and how they have now a network where they keep their people in Lagos and elsewhere. I am appalled at the failure of the Press – print, radio and television as to what happened in Chibok. Not one journalist I know has been there – admittedly it is not safe and is in a war zone. All the

news and information we get about North East and especially, Chibok is from foreign journalists who have been there. Where are the interviews with the parents of these girls, the follow up? Have they all left Chibok? Of course not!

Now a new racket has begun on the so-called IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) where again there is money and some will disappear under this scheme? We have centres for them all over Nigeria – Yola, Abeokuta, Oyo and Osun, etc.

Back to Chibok – what does that event tell us about Nigerians? No one mobilised the country to express solidarity with those who suffered in Chibok. We did not even go there or hold services and prayers for them daily. These are no places for us to go, even outside Chibok to express our solidarity, to send a message that they have not been forgotten. All we hear are excuses, they may be married. Last week the Sunday Times in London revealed that they found 91 of our girls and reported to the authorities who did nothing. There has been no mobilisation; no way to express our feelings of the loss of our children. No solidarity, no intelligence – in fact the girls have been forgotten, no hope of closure.

Instead we blame MTN and impose a ridiculous fine on them for not helping in Chibok and Boko Haram. How is that fine justifiable when we have not freed one of our children captured? Every now and again we have our security people tell us they know where they are but cannot free them for fear that the girls would be killed. What preposterous rubbish!

Our message on Chibok should be that we are unified with you, we suffer with you, we will free you; our enemies cannot and will not defeat us.

Where are our civil defence forces who love to

appear at parades in their resplendent uniforms like castrated popinjays? Their uniforms are better sown and fit better than our military uniform. Do they not have a role in Chibok?

Are we really that callous? Is this a national trait? It must be. We can fit tens of thousands of applicants in a stadium, each paying N1000 for a form to apply to join the Immigration Service. That exercise killed many young people – no inquiry.

The minister did not resign, etc. In the UK when Liverpool football fans died from a stampede similar to that of the Immigration applicants – the minister, Police Chief, etc., resigned. The inquiry took several years but closure came eventual after 11 years.

Instead of our leaders covering their heads in shame – they are in armoured conveys of 12 to 15 cars, sirens blaring as they move at speed to nowhere meaningful.

In Brussels within days they found the bomb making factories, have named the suspects and are on a man hunt to pick up the last one. Can anyone imagine this happening here? Boko Haram detonates roughly a bomb every week or fortnight.

Where are these bombs made? Much can be told about the manufacture of a home-made bomb because the maker leaves a footprint telling where he learnt his craft, sometimes how and who taught him. Nigeria prides itself on its African tradition which above all else is based on the family, both immediate and extended. When these girls of Chibok were kidnapped there was no feeling of outrage. The rest of the world felt the terrorists attack as an intolerably breach of human rights and the right of children, and in world wide disgust for Boko Haram.

Dr. Cole, OFR, was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

EDITORIAL EFCC AND THE RULE OF LAW The EFCC must act within the law at all times

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wo weeks ago, Justice Yusuf Haliru of the FCT High Court, sitting in Jabi, Abuja, had this to say about the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC): “The EFCC is a creation of the law. The court will not allow it to act as if it is above the law. It is remarkable to note that the motto of the EFCC is that nobody is above the law, yet they are acting as if they are above the law. The EFCC Act is not superior to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The respondents in this matter have not behaved as if we are in a civilised society. They have behaved as if we are in a military dictatorship where they arrest and release persons at will.”

The judge’s angry comment arose from EFCC’s serial disobedience to his order that Colonel Nicholas Ashinze, a former aide to the ex-National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), who had been in detention since December 23, 2015 be released on bail on self-recognition. Rather than obey the court, the THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY commission transHAS BEEN FOUND ferred the suspect to TO COMPROMISE ITS a military detention TIME-HONOURED DUTY facility, claiming to OF ENSURING THAT have released him PROPRIETY BECOMES THE to his employer, the ORDER OF THE DAY IN THE Nigerian Army. Of ART OF GOVERNANCE course, Justice Haliru saw through the pranks and declared Ashinze’s detention as illegal, wrongful, unlawful and a blatant violation of his fundamental rights.

Also last Wednesday, an Abuja High Court judge, Justice Peter Affen, berated the EFCC for allegedly intimidating his court. “This is not EFCC office. You must comport yourself. The problem is that you people (EFCC) have too much physical power and you carry it everywhere. This is not a motor park and you must not be throwing your hands anyhow. You owe the court a duty of defer-

Letters to the Editor

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ence. Leave your policeman or EFCC powers at the door. Didn’t they teach you that in Law School?” an angry Justice Affen asked the EFCC lawyer.

To the extent that Nigeria is consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this affects not only the image of the country but hinders investment in our economy, we appreciate the fact that the EFCC is saddled with a most difficult assignment. However, we do not think their cause is being helped by the growing perception, especially coming from the bench, that the anti-graft agency has scant regard for the law.

T T H I S DAY

EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOlA BEllO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOlAfE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OlUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOlA BEllO, KAYODE KOMOlAfE, ISRAEl IWEGBU, EMMANUEl EfENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OlUfEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, fIDElIS ElEMA, MBAYIlAN ANDOAKA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOlA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD fEMI TOlUfASHE ART DIRECTOR OCHI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

he disposition of the EFCC to court orders perhaps stems from the thinking that high profile suspects, who most often hire influential Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), tend to have their way with judges. Indeed, EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, has publicly complained about the corrupting influence of some senior members of the bar on the bench, leading not only to the release of suspects on bail, but also to the frustration of cases through the grant of all manner of injunctions by the courts.

We do agree that corruption is a cankerworm that is threatening to destroy our nation and must be fought with all that we have. Indeed, this newspaper has on many occasions underscored the challenges before the anti-graft body and has repeatedly called on the federal government to cater to its needs, including the provision of better funding and improved training and equipment that would upscale its capacity for investigation and prosecution of corruption cases. We have also called for a reform of the judiciary to rid it of bad eggs. But the EFCC must also, at all times, act within the law.

By respecting the rights of suspects and complying fully with the orders of courts, it will be far easier for the EFCC to sustain and institutionalise the war against corruption for which, we dare say, the current leadership at the commission must be commended.

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

A LETTER TO FATHER MBAKA

ongratulations on your transfer to Our Lady Parish (OLP), Emene, Enugu. Nobody wants you to suffer as you lamented. I see God’s hand in your transfer, to make you even greater. People have laughed at your transfer, but in five years’ time you will see what will happen to your ministry.

Your transfer is God-inspired and you should accept it in good faith.

After reading this letter you will see what I mean. Thank God and keep thanking him for all his mercies to you and your ministry. I know that you were among those that built Christ the King Parish (CKP), GRA, Enugu with 20 years of your youthful years, but I bet you, you can do more and surpass what you have done there.

This is a strategic direction for the Adoration Prayer Ministry; I thank God for you and for this development.

Emene to Enugu using the Enugu - Abakaliki - Ogoja - Ikom Mamfe express is about 25 minutes’ drive. This is an International gateway to Nigeria both by road and by air. What use can it be to your ministry? This should be about 10 minutes from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu. Anybody who can come to the Adoration Ministry in Enugu can conveniently and comfortably come to Our Lady Parish, Emene. If people want to fulfill their spiritual needs, they don’t mind going / visiting anywhere for it. In the alternative, buses could be provided to ferry faithful to Emene from Polo field.

There will be challenges as you move to your new parish, but human beings face challenges. With the lessons learned from CKP, you will prosper and surpass your imagination.

I will dwell on the strategic direction of OLP, if followed in five

years’ time, you may look for me.

Emene is a virgin land yearning to be explored and developed.

I know that land acquisition is not as expensive as other parts of Enugu; then Father here we go. You can replicate what is happening in the Lagos - Ibadan expressway with churches growing in leaps and bounds here in Emene if you get your act together, you will be happy coming to OLP. You alone with God can develop Emene; this is not a tall order.

A critical look at Enugu shows that development is most likely going towards Emene as Udi has a topography problem; Nike isn’t an option; towards Garki seems to be tight, but Emene is the side that development will likely shift with its flat land. Remember Independence Layout Phase II, Enugu Airport and others are all development attracting projects.

What can you do? You can have a farm, build a school, a hospital, a retreat centre, what have you. All in all, good planning is the key as some projects have multiplier effects that will attract others. Now you can think of doing other things, as Christ the King Parish, GRA, though in town may not have had adequate facilities like space for expansion and other things. Moreover, now there won’t be traffic hold-ups/jams obstructing the town and faithful /adorers will see place to park.

The Adoration Prayer Ministry should have a plan to move forward, develop vision and mission statements and seek a strategic direction. Try develop a think- tank that will chart a direction for your ministry.

Anthony Osondu, tonyosondu@yahoo.com

FOREX FOR NIGERIAN STUDENTS ABROAD

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n THISDAY Sunday Comment of March 20, it was stated that our president’s children study abroad. The president, the comment says, can afford to keep his children there.

That’s very good news.

Could our president please tell us his foreign bank accounts from where he pays their school fees and maintenance? Or can he give us evidence of the black market exchange he has done to pay his children’s school fees?

For the sake of our nation, let us cherish our children as our heritage, both those at home and abroad. Parents sacrifice to educate their children so they can be greater than their parents and become assets to their nation and the world.

I cannot place the thinking of government that these children studying abroad and their parents are not the concern of government! Please, the suffering of all citizens is the concern of a good government. I plead, for the love of our nation, let school fees being paid directly into school accounts in foreign countries for Nigerian students be done through the banks at official rates! Let the youth who shouted Sai Baba, Sai Buhari both at home and abroad be glad that they supported the call for “change” for the better. Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Dr. Cecilia Olayide Amotsuka, Medical Director, J-Rapha Hospital & Maternity, New Bodija, Ibadan

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

POLITICS

Group Politics Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com 08116759819 SMS ONLY

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

From Kogi’s Public Service, a Can of Worms Revelations from the ongoing reform of the public service in Kogi State have reinforced the need for a total overhaul of the system, writes Yekini Jimoh

T

he Steering Screening Committee set up by the Kogi State Government to screen workers in the state, including Local Government Councils is already yielding results as the committee discovered some anomalies during the ongoing exercise in some areas of the service system. The committee headed by General (Rtd) Olusola Okotima and his team is believed to be working round the clock to see that it meets the deadline given to them by Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello of the state for the submission of its report.

When the present administration came on board, the wage bill of the state was N3 billion with staff strength of over 39,000. What accrues to the state from the federation account monthly had dwindled from between N2 billion to N2.2 billion while the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) hovers around N400 million naira and N500 million naira monthly.

Governor Bello recently lamented that he didn’t want to be a governor that will only come and pay salary and then leave. According to him, for the past twenty five years that the state was created, “We were created along with other states in this country it is sad that we still find ourselves where we are today.

Civil service is the engine room of any state and where we are today, it means, that the engine room must be overhauled because we can no longer compete favourably with other state created the same time.”

He stressed that because of the situation, there is the need to carry out the screening excise for civil servants in the state.

Before the commencement of the screening exercise, the governor directed that all Permanent Secretaries, Director of Finance and Administration and Cashiers should embarked on one month compulsory leave while at the Local Government Councils, the he directed that Directors of Local Government, Treasurers, Cashiers, Education Secretary and their Accountants should also proceed on one month compulsory leave.

The reason given by the state government was to pave the way for a transparent staff audit of ministries, agencies and parastatals.

Already, the screening exercise is yielding positive results as some discoveries were recently made public by the screening committee. One of the discoveries was a staff taking salaries of over 40 people while another staff is earning salary in four different offices in the state.

It was also discovered that at Kogi State College of Education (Technical), Kabba with barely 300 students, the non-teaching staff is over 500. Also, the committee has discovered over 20 ghost Primary Schools in some Local Government Councils during the screening exercises.

Just few weeks ago, Governor Bello paid an unscheduled visit to some ministries in the state, revealing two billion naira fraud in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Sources privy to the visit told THISDAY that the sleaze was in connection with the Kogi State/CBN MSME, which was allegedly diverted by some top directors in the ministry.

Governor Bello, who was astonished, immediately directed the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry to turn in a comprehensive report on the fund. He also asked the ministry to collaborate with the Office of the Accountant-General of the state for thorough investigation.

Alhaji Yahaya Bello promised to get to the roots of the fraud, assuring the people that he was ready to prosecute anyone found wanting in the MSME-gate that has shaken

Bello (r) with Kogi APC chairman, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo...a commitment to change

the ministry to its foundations. He reiterated the determination of his administration to root out corruption from the civil service, saying his administration will not spare anyone found to have constituted him or herself into a drain pipe in the state.

Sources told THISDAY that palpable tension has since enveloped the civil service even as the Head of Service in the State, Mr. Moses Atakpa was sent on a 30-day compulsory leave.

Kogi workers are already complaining over their non-payment of four months salaries by the state government, alleging that the governor is planning to sack some workers.

The reason given by the state government was to pave the way for a transparent staff audit of ministries, agencies and parastatals.

Already, the screening exercise is yielding positive results as some discoveries were recently made public by the screening committee. One of the discoveries was a staff taking salaries of over 40 people while another staff is earning salary in four different offices in the state

Speaking on behalf of the workers, the Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Kogi State chapter, Comrade Ranti Ojo berated the Governor Bello over his purported plan to sack 40 per cent of the present workforce in its employment.

The union alleged that the government had set up a parallel six-man committee sitting at the glass house of the Lugard House with a mandate to reduce the workforce at all cost.

Comrade Ojo demanded the stoppage of the committee, saying failure of which the workers might withdraw their members serving on the screening/verification committee of the state government.

He also alleged that the State government was engaging in witch-hunting by extending the 30-day compulsory leave it sent permanent secretaries and other top government functionaries for another 30 days without coming out to make public the offences committed by these categories of workers.

According to him, the union kept quiet when the first compulsory leave was given to the people by government thinking that their offences would be made public before the expiration of the 30 days.

“But we are taken aback by another circular No HSC/KGS/CIR/3/VOL.V/542 dated 15th March, 2016 titled Re: Urgent Directives from the Executive Governor extending for another 30 days the compulsory leave granted to our members in the service of Kogi state even when none of them has actually been accused of and found guilty of any gross misconduct.

“This current action is tantamount to a witch-hunt and a negation of the civil service rules and regulations given the conditions of service of our members in the state”.

But the Kogi State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has commended the state government for the ongoing screening exercise to determine the actual workforce of the state and Local Government workers.

This was contained in a Communique issued and signed by the State Chairman of NUJ, Alhaji Ali Atabor and the Secretary, Alhaji Adeiza Momohjimoh, copy of which was made available to THISDAY.

The union urged the government to show a human face by paying workers’ salaries while the screening is ongoing to reduce the hardship faced by the masses as a result of non-payment of salaries. It also commended the state House of Assembly for its resolution calling on the state government to pay workers’ salaries without further delay.

But the governor has said the ongoing workers’ screening exercise has become imperative to ascertain the integrity of the government payroll, adding that it was in the interest of workers and the state government.

The governor, who stated this in Lokoja in a statement hailed the workers for their patience and cooperation with the screening committee, assuring labour of better days ahead.

The Governor said wage is the right of every worker and reiterated the commitment of his administration to ensure that the civil servants earn their wages regularly. According to him, no government can succeed without the cooperation of labour, referring to the public service as “the most critical backbone for the implementation and execution of development plans and programmes”.

He said: “I want to commend labour for its patience and steadfastness in ensuring the staff verification exercise is successful. This has shown that both the government and organised labour are on the same page in ensuring that we reposition public service and discourage corruption which has deprived our esteemed workers from getting their due pay.

“My government will stop at nothing in enthroning a well-motivated workforce that will be ready to work with our government to take Kogi to a new pedestal”, he said reiterating the determination of his administration to improve the living standards of the people in line with his electioneering promises.

He called for a continued support, prayers and collaboration from the people of the state to enable his administration achieve its lofty dreams. According to him, his government will continue to strive to ensure the resources of the state work for the greater number of her people. But more importantly, the hope of many is that the verification exercise yields the expected result.

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

ONTHEWATCH

The Edo APC Debacle In spite of concerns that Governor Adams Oshiomohle of Edo State might have made up his mind on who succeeds him, an All Progressives Congress stalwart in the state, Mr. Kenneth Imansuagbon, still has his eyes on the party’s ticket. Shola Oyeyipo writes

A

s the build-up to the Edo State governorship election coming up later this year gets more interesting with every aspirant making necessary moves to ensure that they get their party tickets, the story of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mr. Kenneth Imansuagbon and the purportedly anointed candidate of the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, is still one dominating political discourse.

The story has been that Imansuagbon was urged to drop his ambition by the party leaders for Governor Oshiomhole in 2007, when he came into the race as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and because a good turn deserves another, it is expected that the governor would support his ambition too this time around.

Imansuagbon co-founded the former Action Congress (AC) in Edo State and came into political prominence in 2007.

He became the party’s governorship candidate in the build-up to the 2007 election and left AC for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), feeling betrayed by those who benefited from his philosophy of politics without bitterness.

Still determined to actualise his ambition of becoming the governor of the state, he vied for the governorship ticket of the PDP in 2012, but emerged the runners up to General Charles Airhiavbere, the eventual winner of the PDP primaries.

While many of those who couldn’t stay in the opposition PDP were quick to realign with the Edo State APC, Imansuangbon stayed put in the PDP and did not yield to all entreaties from Governor Oshiomhole.

According to him, his reason for doing so was because “anything that happens to a man is ordained by God and it is for his own good, one way or the other”.

So, when the likes of Professor Julius Ihonvbere defected to the ACN and was later compensated with the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Imansuangbon remained in the PDP as party loyalist.

“Despite my reservations about how General Airhiavbere emerged as PDP candidate, I have to accept the situation as a party loyalist. For me, my party’s interest is of greater interest than any other consideration.

Well, after due consultations with my supporters, coupled with the respect I have for the party leadership and my utmost belief in the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, I made up my mind as a loyal party member to work for the party’s victory in the election.

“There is no doubt that I was not happy with the outcome of the primaries but there is no doubt about it also that because of the intervention of President Jonathan, Chief Tony Anenih and other party leaders, I had to fully campaign and back the party’s candidate. It was a party decision and as a loyal party man, I am obliged to back the choice of the party,” Imansuangbon said back then.

When he said he foresaw a change in the APC, he opted to return to the progressives camp in the state before the last general election of 2015 and also directed his loyalists to work for the success of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari in the three senatorial districts of the state, part of which he attributed his support for the party.

“My decision paid off. I thank God that I contributed my quota in the emergence of President Buhari as president and members of National and State assemblies in the state,” he said.

He also has kind words for the outgoing Governor: “I can say it anywhere that Governor Oshiomhole is a good man and a good leader. I have a lot of respect for him.

Before him, Edo State was a laughing stock as the least developed in the nation. But in the last five years, he has been able to turn things around for the better. He has touched

Imasuagbon...challenged by prevailing circumstance

every nook and cranny of the state with his developmental stride.

“He has introduced a lot of socio-political and economic changes in Edo State. His welfare programme is okay and has taken Edo beyond the rots of the past. He will forever be in the hearts of Edo people.”

Our National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun has promised that there would be no zoning. Our governor has said he wants somebody who can create jobs. Among all those contesting, I’m the only one coming from the private sector and who has a track record of creating employment

Even at that, there is a growing concern among his political associates that Governor Oshiomhole may not be committed to walking his talk as regards giving the state a free and fair party primary that would enable the best aspirant emerge as the party candidate.

The major debate among the people now is whether or not Buhari, APC chieftains and national leaders of the party will allow Oshiomhole to impose a governorship candidate on the party. This concern is heightened by the suspicion that he is sponsoring delegates to favour his candidate.

There have always been fears that the governor has been suspending and intimidating party chairmen and APC chieftains in the state as part of ploy to achieve his set goal.

The main anxiety now is that if there is no free and fair election in the primaries that will throw up a popular and acceptable candidate for the main election, PDP is likely to come out stronger against the APC and may even take over the state. Where that happens, it could be a further leverage for to PDP to wrest power at the center more formidably in 2019.

But on February 4, during a chat with journalists on his ambition, Imansuangbon said: “I’m the most popular candidate at the grass-roots level because I have regularly engaged the masses in the last 20 years. Even if you want to zone the ticket, my district, Edo Central – should occupy the post because we have not occupied the position before.

“Our National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun has promised that there would be no zoning. Our governor has said he wants somebody who can create jobs. Among all those contesting, I’m the only one coming from the private sector and who has a track

record of creating employment.”

He therefore contended that “The emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari represents a new hope for Africa. It represents an opportunity for Nigeria to rebuild itself. The Buhari factor will not condone imposition,” he contended.

For the lawyer-turned politician and renowned philanthropist, who had won the hearts of the people in the state through his regular free distribution of food items to the less privileged, his major objective is to end poverty among the people of Edo State if voted into office as governor of the state.

“I have seen poverty and I have seen comfort now.

I know that comfort is better than poverty.

My own is that every Edo person must have comfort.

So, my commitment is to the people. Edo State needs people with entrepreneurial antecedents; proven managers of human and material resources to co-operate so that Edo can be great again.

“It is possible for Edo State to become a model for other states in job creation, robust economy with solid public private partnership, meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target in health care delivery, becoming a food sufficient state, science-based 21st century education and human capital development, tourism, sports and above all, a secure state,” he said assuredly.

As things stand today in Edo State APC, nobody knows for sure who gets the party’s ticket but one thing is certain, every aspirant genuinely committed to pursuing his or her ambition in the race ahead is already doing serious leg works and how that helps the eventual winner remains to be seen.

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

ENCOUNTER

‘In Fighting Graft, Buhari Respects No One’ Dr. Theodore ‘TOE’ Ekechi, a front line marketing communications practitioner, was the director of planning and monitoring of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation. In a recent encounter with Shola Oyeyipo, Ekechi explains why he has been out of the scene, the change mantra of the Buhari administration, the fight against corruption and why the president has to take strong political decisions to improve the economy

H

e was neither seen nor heard during the campaigns for last year’s general election that brought the present government to power. But for Theodore Okwu Ejike Ekechi, his role as director of planning and monitoring of the Buhari Campaign Organisation was very strategic in ensuring that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), came tops at the polls. But since then, TOE, as his friends and admirers call him, has been keeping a low profile and seems to have recoiled to his professional shell: advertising and marketing.

When THISDAY cornered him last week, Ekechi said he had his life before his assignment for the Buhari presidential campaign. Even before then, when he served as the commissioner for information and strategy for his native Imo State, he had always kept one leg firmly in his chain of businesses, which span interests in advertising, brokerage, manufacturing and consulting.

“I had a life and career before those assignments. For me these assignments were calls to national duty which I accepted with very sincere enthusiasm and discharged with utmost dignity to the best of my ability. I am not a ‘natural’ or career politician as it were.

After every public outing, I easily retract to my natural habitat which is nurturing and exploring genuine business opportunities.

“If I am perceived as keeping low profile, it is only a reflection of the low visibility of private, corporate identity pari passu the natural high visibility of public life. I recommend national responsibility for all professionals to open their eyes and thoughts to wider perspectives of nationhood and governance. This process will make them whole and complete.”

On Buhari’s Campaign Assignment With his role as director of monitoring and planning of the Buhari campaign group, many would have expected him junketing the corridors of power for recognition and ‘compensation as it were. But Ekechi said it does not necessarily follow. To him, that was the old thinking among politicians. He believes that President Buhari is ready to do things differently. This, to him, is a new era.

“It doesn’t follow and it shouldn’t follow.

That is the old order. Old thinking which breeds favoritism and nepotism. In the old order, every party stalwart was almost sure of an appointment as soon as the party assumed power. In fact, positions were assigned in advance depending on the strength, status or influence of the politician.

“As you would have noticed, none of the members of the present Federal Executive Council or indeed other announced appointees was sure of his nomination until the names were announced and cleared by the Senate. That is the new order; the change order.

“In other words, within the context of the change mantra, a senior presidential campaign role or any partisan party role for that matter is not a magna carter for automatic presidential appointment. While I am always willing to serve at whatever level, it should be appreciated that such an opportunity is not a right but a privilege exclusively at the discretion of Mr. President.”

‘Change is in Operation’…

Ekechi is not one of those, who believe the change mantra has lost its appeal. In his opinion, change has not only come but is duly in operation.

“The APC entails a paradigm shift from the old order to the new order: that is to say from the traditional ways of doing things to new ways consistent with world best practices. A quick example is the issue of appointments

the custodian bank is authorised to purchase automatically at the official rate.

“This will significantly reduce the proclivity to convert wealth, especially stolen wealth, into dollar. This measure should also come with a corresponding minimum amount of dollar or foreign currency that any individual can stack and stock in his home. Above which it becomes an offence.”

He added that there is no way government can encourage patronising locally made goods unless it spearheads it itself.

“Government should spear-head this by patronising them. Imagine what will happen to our automobile industry if government directs that all motor vehicle purchases for this year’s budget must be of local production. The local automobile industries today in this country have the capacity to supply all government auto needs.”

Ekechi...Buhari on course

to political offices which I discussed earlier.

Change encompasses indiscipline to discipline, from wasteful African time to respectful time management, from sentimental decision-taking to dispassionate considerations of issues, from playing to the gallery to gaining cheap political pyrrhic victories to bold position which though may be unpopular on the short run, but in the long run, in the best interest of the nation.

“Change includes fighting corruption not only in the low places but also in the high places irrespective of position, class or creed.

Change entails leadership by example; not ‘do what I say but not what I do’. Change is

No doubt the war against corruption is being fought holistically. One thing we must sincerely admit (even if you bear grudges against his emergence) is that President Buhari is a respecter of no person when it comes to the laws of the land.

He indeed belongs to nobody but is for everybody. I know one cheap argument some uninformed people are wont to make is that the preponderance of those being tried are of the defeated PDP. But why not? Look at the issue very critically and dispassionately

courageous, not cowardly. Change in Nigeria is real, particularly in the eyes of those who appreciate the mantra in its total ramifications.”

Economy Needs Strong Political Culture TOE has not forgotten his first love, which is business. And he is not unaware of how tight it is for the country presently in terms of economic situation. Ekechi is also aware of the foreign exchange squeeze that is affecting many businesses. But he says it could have been worse but for the Buhari intervention.

“The free fall in oil price was obviously beyond the control of this government and was not its making. On one hand, it was unfortunate situation that the price of oil collapsed just when this administration came into power as the concomitant burden of a stressed naira and therefore a constrained economy fell squarely on its shoulders.

“On the other hand, it is fortunate that it is a person of the character and calibre of Mohammadu Buhari that is at the helm of affairs while this is happening. Imagine the disaster and catastrophe that would have become Nigeria if we were still under a cash and carry government. Indeed, God loves Nigeria!”

He added that the present prescriptions for saving the Nigeria economy are commendable.

To him, these include checking and discouraging our ostentatious life style, discouraging luxury imports, encouraging consumptions of locally made goods, fighting corruption especially at high places, reducing cost of governance and instigating investment in the real sectors of the economy. But he has this to say: “However, these prescriptions should be administered in very higher doses.”

Addressing the Dollar Puzzle When Ekechi speaks, you know he is a businessman to the core. He believes for any meaningful economic impact on the people, there must be strong political will on the part of the leadership. And he wants that political power to be deployed in making some key economic decisions; especially in the area of freeing idle dollars with the Central Bank which, to him, encourages corruption and money laundering.

“I would suggest that as a step towards reducing the quantum of idle dollar cash amassed and stacked away in local banks by fleeing corrupt public servants, the CBN should prescribe a minimum dollar balance in every domiciliary account beyond which

Anti-corruption War not One-sided This graduate of marketing from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, says it is very wrong for anyone to say the anti-corruption war of President Buhari is one-sided and not holistic enough.

He says many people still do not believe that Buhari is one person that does not fear any individual. Therefore, he could not have been selective in his anti-corruption crusade.

“No doubt the war against corruption is being fought holistically. One thing we must sincerely admit (even if you bear grudges against his emergence) is that President Buhari is a respecter of no person when it comes to the laws of the land. He indeed belongs to nobody but is for everybody. I know one cheap argument some uninformed people are wont to make is that the preponderance of those being tried are of the defeated PDP. But why not? Look at the issue very critically and dispassionately this way.

“Corrupt enrichment, at least the ones that bled this nation badly, was committed by public servants and/or with those who appointed them to office. So which was the party in office in the last 16 years preceding 2015? PDP! Who were the key players that appointed and/or were appointed to key public offices? PDP! “Even though some key APC personnel were on the other side of the divide, the fact remains that a far majority of office holders were of the erstwhile ruling party. Naturally, therefore, even with the law of average the preponderance of victims of the war against corruption should come from PDP.” The EFCC and the Police Ekechi also believes EFCC, ICPC and the police are not spirits with powers of clairvoyance to tell from their high offices corrupt practices at different posts.

“Let me tell you. These agencies work mostly on the basis of substantiatable public petitions.

Let people who have cases against APC members come forth and make it public so that even if there is a selective agenda, the public hues and cries will at least drive the agencies to react. The agencies cannot work out of speculation. Let me also opine that some Nigerians are mostly opportunistic, willing and able to castigate and condemn erstwhile accomplices once they are out of power.

“Perhaps, that is what is happening to many a PDP corruption suspects. President Buhari should not be blamed for this. Or should he? Having posited as above, permit me to conclude that notwithstanding, Selective war against corruption is better than no war at all as we experienced in the last administration.”

Perhaps, with strong views like this on national issues, Theodore Ekechi might not be keeping low profile after all. Even when he has corporate life intact, his strong views on national issues show the mindset of a committed patriot.

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

The Gathering of Vultures Femi Fani-Kayode writes that the attempt to emasculate him is dead on arrival

Some former and present APC governors at the inception of the movement for change...it is believed that fani-kayode is here referring to the APC government

T

he vultures are circling yet I am not disturbed because they cannot eat my flesh. The wolves are howling yet I shall not retreat because they cannot crush my bones. The bullies are threatening yet I shall not bow because they cannot break my spirit or conquer my soul.

The demons are baying yet I shall not fear because they cannot drink my blood. The liars are lying yet I shall not be deterred for I know the Ancient of Days, the mighty God that I serve.

The foxes are plotting yet I shall not be moved and I shall treat them with the contempt and disdain that they deserve.

The snakes are hissing yet I am not perturbed knowing that their poison and hate cannot overwhelm or blind me. The dogs are barking yet I continue to rejoice, knowing that lions do not tremble at the bark of an accursed mongrel. The Accuser of the Brethren has begun his devilish work of slander yet I shall lose no sleep, knowing that in the end, the truth always prevails.

There is evil in the land and the ravenous beasts of our dark forest are roaring, yet I shall not run. As always, I shall stand and I shall fight. As always, I will speak against the persecution of the innocent and the cruelty and injustice of the wicked. As always, I will resist the hidden agenda to violate our nation’s secularity and to Islamise our nation. As always I shall preach the equality of all men and the humanity of all souls.

As always, I will stand against the enthronement and the empowerment of bloodthirsty and evil men. As always, I shall stand against the terrorists and jihadists in our midst, who have wrought destruction on our nation and who have shattered the lives of so many. As always, I shall speak up for the oppressed, the voiceless, the

weak, the vulnerable, the misrepresented, the hated and the despised.

As always, I will resist the cruelty that has been inflicted upon the unlawful captive and those who have been subjected to an unconstitutional, unlawful

No matter what they say or do, as long as God gives me life, I shall never be silenced.

I shall fulfill my destiny because His love will see me through and it will nullify their evil projections and manifest hate. The vultures are circling yet I am not disturbed because they cannot eat my flesh. In my case, they say it is personal and that they have a score to settle

and indefinite detention. As always, I shall speak against the violation of court orders and the intimidation and humiliation of the Judiciary.

As always, I shall oppose a foreign policy that turns our nation into a shadow of her once glorious past and nothing more than an appendage of the Salifists and Wahabbists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

As always, I will speak out against violence, genocide, ethnic cleansing and all crimes against humanity. As always, I shall speak up for the vulnerable, the weak, the less privileged and the deprived!

As always, I shall stand against the tyrants and despots that use their position of power and privilege to destroy the lives of others. As always, I shall stand against state-sponsored murder and politicallyinspired and selective criminal prosecutions.

As always, I shall speak the bitter truth and voice my support for the self-determination and the liberation of the oppressed ethnic nationalities of Nigeria, including those of the Middle Belt, the South-east and the South-south.

As always, I will resist those that abduct our citizens, commit rape, indulge in mass murder and torment our people with their satanic hordes and demonic herds all in an attempt to subjugate and conquer us and impose their will.

As always, I will oppose pedophilia, child rape and the abduction, enslavement and forced islamisation of little girls in distant lands and sinister palaces.

As always, I will fight a good fight and stand for truth. As always, I will stand against the licensing of Churches and the violation of our constitutionally-guaranteed religious freedoms. As always, I will stand against those who ban prayers in our schools. As always, I will gladly offer my

very life as a living sacrifice for my faith and I will defend the honor and dignity of Christianity wherever I go.

No matter what they say or do, as long as God gives me life, I shall never be silenced.

I shall fulfill my destiny because His love will see me through and it will nullify their evil projections and manifest hate. The vultures are circling yet I am not disturbed because they cannot eat my flesh. In my case, they say it is personal and that they have a score to settle.

They say that they have been told by their idol and their little god to ‘’punish me ruthlessly for my insolence’’ and ‘’to give me hell’’. Others have tried before and I saw their end. I await them: let the God that answers by fire, let Him be my God. In the meantime, I count it all as joy, for in the end, my innocence shall speak for me and I shall prevail.

Until then, let them be rest assured of one thing: I have no fear because the Lord is with me. I make my boast in Him and none other. Without Him, I am nothing but with Him, I am everything. No matter how long it takes, He will never abandon me because I have done absolutely nothing wrong.

As long as Jesus is on the throne, He will preserve my life and I shall fulfill the purpose for which He gave it to me. They shall not thwart that purpose, they shall not break me, they shall not destroy me and neither shall they have their wicked way with me. They shall fall into the pit that they have dug for me themselves and their end shall be bitter.

The bible says, “He suffered no man to do them wrong. He reproved kings for their sake saying, ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm’ “. They seek to touch the anointed of the Lord: let us put God’s word to the test.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

Acting Features Editor Charles Ajunwa Email charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

Spreading the Sunshine The MTN Foundation is spreading its largesse across 200 communities in the country in a bid to improve the standards of living, writes Martins Ifijeh

Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Hon. Seye Oladejo, cutting the tape at the handover of 100 units of school furniture by MTN Foundation at the Community Nursery and Primary School, Magodo...recently

W

hen the night comes, the people of Igbinoba community in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State do not enjoy electricity. All they have is moon and candle lights to see through the night. It has been darkness all along, because power, which is one of the basic amenities needed to live a normal life in the 21st century, has been missing in the community. The only transformer they used to have packed up, no thanks to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, who had promised in vain to give them a new one.

The small community had become a laid back circus among communities in Oredo area of Benin, as development continued to elude them due to the poor electricity system, leaving other communities around to enjoy economic relevance far ahead of them.

But over their darkened pathways, comes a ray of sunshine beamed at their feet when they least expected it. Complimenting the efforts of the government, the sunshine was from MTN Foundation, through its #Whatcanwedotogether initiative that had come to alleviate their suffering; identified their pain, and then spread liberty and happiness through the provision of specific solutions, which the community needed to be at par with their neigbhours.

On a sunny day in January, the atmosphere in the community changed, drums were rolled out, as everyone left their darkened abode to take delivery of the transformer from the Foundation. It was all pomp and cheer to celebrate the intervention, which they had always prayed for. It finally came their way from the corporate social responsibility arm of MTN, a telecom giant in Nigeria.

“Few months ago, MTN Foundation delivered a brand new transformer to our community, and since then our darkness has gone. We are now able to preserve our foods, take cold drinks, watch televisions, and even charge our phones in the comfort

Igbinoba and Alkaleri communities are not the only ones that have benefitted from MTN Foundation’s show of love to mark its 10th year anniversary. 198 other communities have seen sunshine as a result of the initiative. From the North-central, to the South-west, down to the North- east, the gesture was even

of our homes,” says Olufemi Enigbokan, who nominated his community.

Like the Purple Seller in the Bible, whose work was everywhere and evident for all to see, Enigbokan believed the impact of the gesture of love from the Foundation will be felt by every resident of the community for a very long time, as power has been the major challenge faced by the people.

Same gesture was spread across communities in the North-east, South-south, and other geo-political regions of the country.

For instance, in Alkaleri community in Bauchi State, the lack of potable water caused several preventable diseases, including diarrhea and cholera, leaving the people at the mercy of the poor sources of water in the community. This has therefore spurred the people to request for potable water for many years.

But succour soon came their way when the #Whatcanwedotogether initiative spread its love to the community, in a bid to bringing sunshine to the thousands of people living there.

Truly, it brought sunshine to the community.

A borehole was installed to provide them with potable water, and today, the impact of that gesture is being felt everywhere within the community. Preventable disease outbreaks occasioned by bad water have reduced. Their children and mothers no longer walk several miles to fetch water, which at best could still not be termed potable water.

Igbinoba and Alkaleri communities are not the only ones that have benefitted from MTN Foundation’s show of love to mark its 10th year anniversary. 198 other communities have seen sunshine as a result of the initiative. From the North-central, to the South-west, down to the North- east, the gesture was even.

For example, the Alaguntan Community in

Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos, took ownership of a brand new transformer, which has been mounted and has distributed electricity to the thousands of people in that community. Mr. Olanrewaju Ogundeji, who nominated his community for the transformer could not believe his eyes. “This is no fluke.

I was skeptical at first but I kept faith and it has yielded a good result. My community can now enjoy electricity,” he said.

Chairman of the Alaguntan Community Development Association, Dr. John Adegoke, also said that the transformer came at a time when total blackout has permeated the entire community for over three months.

He described the Foundation’s donation as a square peg in a round hole.

Nto Akpa Inyang community of Ikot Ekpene and Umuzocha village in Anambra State are also two communities that have benefitted from the Foundation’s initiative.

Recently, they as well, took ownership of transformers to address their electricity issues.

At Mgbuodohia Community in Rivers State, Engr., Nwokechi Ogbonna, said “I thought it was one of those general pranks that people usually play, but to our greatest surprise, this 500KVA transformer was given to us. Our community is better with this provision, we are happy.

“This community has been suffering from the absence of electricity for long period of time, we severally tried to tackle the situation, but we could not. Today the Foundation is helping us to achieve our goal. We are really grateful for their love, concern and commitment”, said Mr. Ikinga Bisiano Bright, one of the residents in Rivers state. Same gesture was extended to Oke- Ayadi community in Ondo Town, Ondo State.

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• T H I S D AY TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

FEATURES And then, the Ishieke community of Ebonyi State was not left out. Haven identified the community’s major issue to be lack of potable water, the #Whatcanwedotogether initiative was extended to them in a bid to tackle it.

Recently, the people of Ishieke took ownership of a borehole to address their water issue.

Today, they no longer complain of lack of water.

Critically looking at the future, a major part of the #whatcanwedotogether initiative is the donation of furniture units at schools.

At Community Nursery and Primary School, Magodo, the atmosphere was ecstatic as the various drama and dance group of the pupils attempted to outshine themselves just to show their appreciation. The nominator and General Secretary, Magodo (Valley View) Resident Association, Mrs. Oluyemisi Shittu looking at the 100 units of school furniture handed over to the school said “I cannot just hide my joy. This is a day I have prayed for, these pupils are my children, our children and I feel for them whenever I come around and see their former state. But now, you can see the joy on their faces. We thank the MTN Foundation for selecting this school”.

Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Hon. Seye Oladejo, could not agree less when he said “we all know the impact of the Foundation across Lagos and indeed Nigeria. Looking at the joy on the faces of these children, all we can say is thank you for supporting the development efforts of the government”.

Same love was spread to Sokoto, Katsina, Ogun, Kaduna, Niger, and others under states all within a space of months.

The sole aim of the initiative, according to the MTN Foundation team was to identify communities across the country that were in need of special and important support, and then bring succour to their door steps, especially in areas of health, education, power, and other basic needs.

Meanwhile, the selection of the 200 communities across the country didn’t come on a platter of gold. Nominations were made by thousands of people. 36, 881 entries were received, but because the Foundation’s team were determined to put square pegs in square holes, they, through a thorough selection and verification process, reduced that number to 384 communities.

Several visits were made to these communities by the team, before the selected 200 were finally announced. So far, a huge number of communities have benefitted already from the initiative.

According to the Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Nonny Ugboma, a lot of rigour went into short-listing the potential community project beneficiaries. “Part of the campaign promise of the ‘What Can We Do Together’ initiative was to ensure high-level transparency and communal involvement by carrying the public along through the nomination and selection process, which is what we have done to ensure credibility and

The sole aim of the initiative, according to the MTN Foundation team was to identify communities across the country that were in need of special and important support, and then bring succour to their door steps, especially in areas of health, education, power, and other basic needs

L-R: Chairman, Alaguntan Community Development Association, Dr. John Adegoke, MTN Project Nominator, Mr. Olanrewaju Ogundeji, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation Ms. Nonny Ugboma and Executive Member, Alaguntan Community Development Association, Mr. Ade Adeyemi, at the commissioning and handing over of the 500 KVA Transformer in the MTN Foundation “What Can We Do Together” campaign in Lagos...recently

A brand new 500KVA transformers donated to one of the lucky 200 communities Bakkwato community was not left out of the gesture

fairness in the process,” she noted.

In one of the events to kick start the distribution of transformers to some of the communities whose major issue was lack of power, Ugboma said electricity was critical to every part of the lives of individuals and of a nation. “Without electricity, businesses cannot operate optimally and individuals will have to generate their power. This impacts their profitability and sustainability as well. For relaxation and recreation, and for general well-being, we require electricity.

It is for this reason that the Foundation decided to complement government’s efforts in improving the quality of lives in our communities through the donation of transformers,” Ugboma said.

Speaking further, she said: “We have asked Nigerians what we could do together. They have answered, and part of their requests is what we are now fulfilling. The next phase will include donation of school furniture, borehole water and orphanage donations.

We remain committed to improving the lives of individuals and the well-being of communities by partnering on selected social investment projects, which promote people’s dignity, nurture inherent abilities and help create economic value in the communities.”

According to her, MTN Foundation, the corporate social investment arm of MTN Nigeria, has invested over N13 billion in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment, adding that the Foundation has 344 project sites across the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

Speaking further, Nonny said that this was a demonstration of the Foundation’s commitment to continue to complement government’s efforts in ways that can improve project development in various communities across the country.

Recalling events that transpired in the early days before the Foundation commenced, Ugboma, noted that MTN conducted an in-depth research to find out the primary needs of Nigerians and how best it can give back. “From the research conducted by Phillips Consulting, we were able to identify three basic areas: education, health and economic empowerment. With this foresight, we invited key stakeholders from the education, health, and poverty alleviation agencies, to brainstorm and develop a framework for the activities of the MTN Foundation. That meeting was very instrumental in setting the tone for the Foundation,” she explained.

Speaking during the Foundation’s 10th year anniversary recently, the Chairman, Board of the MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, in an earlier interview, recalled that the Foundation was set up 10 years ago to improve the quality of lives of Nigerians. And over the years the Foundation has made remarkable impact through the implementation of much needed social investments across all parts of the country. He added that till date, over 13 billion naira has been spent on numerous Corporate Social Responsibility interventions.

On his part, the Director, MTN Foundation, Mr. Dennis Okoro, said that relationship was a core value at MTN as a business.

“MTN and the MTN Foundation uphold the company’s core value of building and sustaining relationships. Looking at what the Foundation has achieved in a decade, relationship plays an integral part in the success story of impact on millions of Nigerians in the areas of Education, Health and Economic Empowerment. It is this value and the successes we have achieved so far that inspired us to say: let’s partner with Nigerians by asking them to nominate any of these four projects: school furniture, boreholes, transformers or household items for orphanages, for their communities. Through this nomination, a community of your choice could benefit from one of these projects and we are going to implement this in 200 communities,” he said.

Entries for the first phase initiative ended on October 9, 2015, where Nigerians were asked to register the community name and their preferred project, guided by the prompts that follow after dialing the specified code.

Majority of the communities have taken delivery of their preferred projects. The second phase of the project is about to commence and Nigerians are eagerly waiting.

But one thing then comes to mind after sunshine has been spread to 200 communities across Nigeria. What happens to several other communities in the country crying to have their health, education, infrastructural and basic needs tackled? Will government, other foundations, corporate bodies or well meaning Nigerians take a cue from the gesture shown to the lucky 200 communities and help the other crying communities?

22

IMAGES

L-R: Ag Managing Director, B

L-R: Trade and Marketing Consultant, MTN Nigeria, Ms. Kemi Odewenwa; Government and Community Relations Officer, Mr. Kingsley Ekhator and Leader, Igbinoba Community, Pa Moses Ehioghae, during the commissioning ceremony of the 500KVA transformer, donated by MTN Foundation to the Igbinoba community, in Edo state....recently

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Vice President, Eko Foundation, Chief (Mrs) Teju Phillips; President, Prof Imram Oluwole Smith and the Sentenmen of Badagry, representing Akran of Badagry, Chief Ajose S Harrison, during a press briefing on the state of Lagos state governance on the marginalize of Lagos Indigenes, by the present Administration in the state, jointly addressed by Eko Foundation and Association of Lagos State Indigenes, at the Nepa training centre, in Lagos.....recently KOLA OLASUPO

L-R: People’s Warden, The African Church, St. Paul’s Parish, Ilupeju, Lagos, Bro. Tunde Olorunyomi; Vicar, Venerable James Akinwande; Curate, Rev. Muyiwa Shoji and Rev. (Dr.) Emmanuel Gbeleyi, during the Easter Sunday Service at Ilupeju, Lagos ....recently

L-R: Deputy Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun; Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa; APC Chieftain, Ondo State, Dr Tunji Abayomi and Minority Leader, Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon. Mukaila Musa, during a courtesy visit to the speaker by APC members in Ondo State house of assembly, in Lagos…..recently KOLA OLASUPO

L-R: President, Handset Business, Huawei Consumer Business Group, Mr. Kevin Ho (left) presenting Huawei Mate 8 to Ace footballer, Mr. Lionel Messi, during the unveiling of Lionel Messi, as the Huawei Brand Ambassador…..recently

L-R: Community Head, Garama Sabuwa/Kazuwa Community, Katsina State, Alhaji Yusuf Salauwa; Projects Nominator, Mr. Dalhat Safana; representative of MTN Foundation, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar and the Chief Imam of the Community, Mallam Jafar Ja’afar, during the official handing over of a 500 KVA transformer donated by MTN Foundation to Garama Sabuwar/Kasuwa community, in Katsina......recently

Executive Director, Niger State Science and Technical School Board, Hajiya Kaltun Dauda-Rufai (middle) cutting the tape during the donation of school furniture by MTN Foundation, as part of the MTNF What Can We Do Together initiative, at Government Technical College, Eyagi, Niger State….recently

23

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD OVERDRAFT PRIME NORMAL LENDING

R A T E S 17.9773% 20.3040%

LOAN PRIME LOAN

A S 18.0478% 20.7143%

A T

Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

M A R C H

DEPOSIT/LENDING SAVINGS ACCOUNT STRICT CALL 7 DAYS

2.3119% 2.8642% 3.2102%

1 1 ,

60 DAYS 90 DAYS 180 DAYS

6.4400% 7.2438% 7.2417%

2 0 1 6

EXCHANGE RATE N155.70 US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes Global LNG Prices Steady

Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) held their ground last week as market participants awaited the outcome of several global tenders to set the direction for future trade.

New supplies beginning to emerge from the United States, Australia and probably Angola, following a massive engineering overhaul, will further shake-up trading and likely pressure prices.

LNG for May delivery in Asia traded at $4.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), level-pegging with last week.

The first half of May was seen as tighter than the second half, by which time more supply should be available to buyers.

Tenders in Argentina, Thailand, Taiwan, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Trinidad and Egypt provided ample opportunity for deal-making.

“It will be interesting to see how the dust settles next week after the outcome of these tenders and what that does to price,” one London-based trader said.

Angola LNG, partly owned by Chevron, is working with market participants to re-establish commercial ties for a return to selling spot cargoes on the global market, trade sources said.

But the project is not yet offering details of how many cargoes per month it expects to produce, with traders offering potential ranges between 3-5/month.

PROMOTING INVESTMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

L-R: ECOWAS Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, Mr. Kalilou Traore; Coordinator, UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office Global Network, Ms. Lucia Cartini; a representative of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in Nigeria, Ms. Louise Setshwaelo, during the launching of ITPO Nigeria, in Abuja ... recently.

Tension in PPPRA over Alleged ‘Waiver’ for Appointment of Executive Secretary Stories by Ejiofor Alike The waiver allegedly obtained from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for the appointment of Mrs. Sotonye Iyoyo as the acting Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has continued to create tension at the agency after the expiration of the one month promised by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to resolve the issues surrounding her controversial appointment, THISDAY has learnt.

Iyoyo was until her appointment, the manager in charge of Health, Safety and Environment

ENERGY (HSE) at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Following the sack of the heads of 25 federal government’s agencies, including the immediate past Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 15, Farouk had handed over to the most senior staff of the agency, Mr. Moses Mbaba in line with the directive of SGF. But instead of allowing the most senior staff of PPPRA to act as the executive secretary of PPPRA as was obtained in other agencies whose heads were also sacked, the petroleum ministry allegedly claimed that it sought

and got a waiver from the SGF to appoint, Iyoyo, an outsider to head the PPPRA. Multiple sources within PPPRA told THISDAY at the weekend that the appointment of another staff of NNPC to head the agency, which regulates the corporation, was part of the old tradition of the ministry of petroleum to tidy up the books with respect to fuel importation by the corporation.

According to one of the sources, Ahmed was brought in after the kerosene subsidy controversy, when the corporation claimed that it was not being paid kerosene subsidy, while the federal government was actually paying it subsidy on kerosene.

“NNPC claimed that it was not collecting kerosene subsidy when it was actually collecting kerosene subsidy and Ahmed was brought in. Ahmed was Executive Director (Commercial) at the PPMC when the kerosene subsidy controversy erupted,” said one of the top officials of the agency.

Branch Chairman of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Mr. Victor Ononokpono had earlier requested the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to probe the activities of the agency.

Continued on page 24

Fuel Crisis Worsens as Most Depots Run out of Product The lingering fuel shortages worsened at the weekend as most independent marketers have exhausted their stock of petrol, while the major marketers were selling to only their retail outlets, THISDAY has learnt.

With the public holiday declared on Friday, it was learnt that no depot loaded petrol, thus further tightening the supply situation at the weekend.

THISDAY gathered that on Thursday, there was no petrol at the depots of Sahara Energy, Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, AA Rano, Ascon, AZ, Bovas, D Jones, Eurafric, Eterna Oil, Fatgbems, Global Fleet, Gulf Treasure, Hensmor, Honeywell, Ibakem, Ibeto, Index, Obat

ENERGY Oil, Rahamaniyya, and Swift Petroleum.

While Aquatane, Ascon, Folawiyo and AZ were selling kerosene on Thursday, Integrated Oil, Index and MRS sold both kerosene and diesel.

Capital Oil, Eterna Oil, Gulf Treasure, Ibakem and Stallonire were also selling diesel.

THISDAY gathered that only Capital Oil, Heyden Petroleum, Folawiyo and MRS had stock of petrol on Thursday.

With this development, marketers who managed to source product from the few depots that had stock of petrol at normal price, sold to third parties at very exorbitant ex-

depot prices of between N113 and N119 per litre.

This has made the queues at filling stations to stretch longer and longer at the weekend with prices ranging between N110 to N120, except the major marketers, who sold at normal price.

It was also gathered that some independent marketers who open their retail outlets only at night, sell at even N140 per litre and above.

Some of the marketers, who spoke to THISDAY, said the supply was very tight at the weekend with the public holiday declared on Friday worsening the situation as no depot loaded in Lagos on that day.

THISDAY gathered that a vessel, MT ALIZEA brought in about 30,000MT of petrol for NNPC on Saturday, which was shared by NIPCO Plc, Aiteo and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc but it was still a drop in the ocean.

Another marketer, who spoke about the fuel situation, insisted that some marketers would continue to profiteer under the situation so long as scarcity persisted.

“Once there is scarcity, there will be profiteering and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Kachikwu started by directing DPR to sell people’s product for free when they were cut cheating but where Continued on page 24

ExxonMobil to Buy Eni’s Gas Field

ExxonMobil is in talks to buy a stake of around 15 per cent in Italian oil major Eni’s giant Area 4 gas field in Mozambique, two sources familiar with the matter said, according to Reuters.

Exxon is seen as a front-runner to buy into Eni’s gas development and this would be the US firm’s first big acquisition since the oil price collapse. Area 4, in which Eni holds a 50 per cent operating stake, is located in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin, where gas in place amounts to some 85 trillion cubic feet -- one of the richest gas discoveries of recent times.

It will feed a series of onshore LNG export plants, mainly supplying Asian markets. ENI said previously it aimed to sell around 15 per cent of the field.

Reuters quoted two sources as saying that Exxon was in talks to buy a stake of that size, one of whom said Eni was also negotiating with other firms.

“I am upbeat a deal will be reached fairly soon,” the second source said. A banking source familiar with the matter said Exxon was interested in buying Eni’s whole 50 per cent stake, while a fourth source said Exxon was looking at unspecified stakes in all Eni holdings up for sale, also including assets in Egypt and elsewhere in Africa.

Exxon and Eni declined to comment. Eni, a front-runner among the majors in finding reserves, said earlier this month it would sell 7 billion euros of assets to 2019, most from farming down prize acreage. But it aims to hang on to operatorship of the fields

Egypt Spends $22bn to Clear Goods

Egypt’s Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer said on Saturday that devaluing the Egyptian pound had attracted foreign investment worth $500 million in treasury bills and that he had pumped $22 billion into the banking system to clear goods piled at ports.

Speaking in a pre-recorded interview aired on a local talk show late on Saturday, Amer also said: “There is no currency crisis, there is merely a crisis in managing the foreign exchange market, and we will roll out an alternative plan for managing the market in the next three months.”

“The decision wasn’t a devaluation, it was correcting the situation and we had planned for it in advance. Its advantages will outweigh its disadvantages,” he added.

“One thing I can say as Indorama Group is that we follow the rule of law.

Managing Director of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Manish Mundra

24

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 29. 2016

BUSINESSWORLD TENSION IN PPPRA OVER ALLEGED ‘WAIVER’ FOR APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

The union said it was convinced that something was amiss at the agency, hence its request on the EFCC to investigate its operations.

Another PPPRA source alleged that after the federal government sacked Ahmed on Monday, February 15, he deliberately delayed the handover till Thursday to enable the NNPC and the ministry of petroleum to perfect their plan of sending another outsider.

“Mbaba took over on Thursday and on Friday, he announced his plan to review certain approvals and decisions made by Ahmed, but he was denied access to the necessary documents until Monday when the NNPC sent Iyoyo, after they claimed that they received a waiver from the SGF. Was it not the same SGF that directed that he should hand over to the most senior?” he added.

He stated that Ahmed was jittery over SGF’s initial directive that he should handover to the most senior staff because throughout his two-year tenure as the executive Secretary, there was no love lost between him and Mbaba, who was General Manager in charge of Administration.

FUEL CRISIS WORSENS AS MOST DEPOTS RUN- OUT OF PRODUCT

did it take us to? Cheating continues and it can only stop when the system is flooded with product,” explained one of the marketers.

After weeks of promises by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiary, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), on their capacity to meet domestic demand for petrol and end the fuel shortages, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, admitted last week that there was no quick fix to the perennial problem.

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Maritime Editor

John Iwori

AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Linda Eroke (Labour) Eromosele Abiodun (Cap Mkt) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Obinna Chima (Money Mkt) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

NEWS

Cooking Gas Operators Decry Payment of Associated Costs in Dollar Ejiofor Alike Marketers of cooking gas and other operators in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market have denounced the practice whereby certain associated costs, which they describe in the LPG sub-sector as agent fees, are paid in foreign exchange.

Some of the marketers, who spoke to THISDAY at the weekend, noted that while the purchasing price of the commodity is paid in Naira, the associated costs are paid in foreign exchange, thus contributing to higher costs in view of the current scarcity of forex. They said the development had made it difficult for the price of LPG to crash completely in the face of the drop in crude oil prices.

According to them, the scarcity of foreign exchange has affected the price of cooking gas in the country, despite the fact that it is a local product.

“The agent fees are paid in dollars, that is, the money we pay to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and vessel operators. For instance, NAVGAS also charges in dollar but PPMC and NIPCO charge in naira,” said one of the marketers, who did not want to be quoted.

Another marketer told THISDAY that the purchasing price of 20 metric tonnes of LPG is N2 million and is paid in Naira but other associated costs are paid in dollar.

“The price of gas would have been less but for the associated costs, which are paid in dollars,” he said.

According to him, the retail price of 12.5kg, which is cur-

rently around N2,300 –N2,500 at the gas plants, would have been much less if the associated costs are paid in naira.

THISDAY gathered that before the drop in the price of crude oil, 20 metric tonnes of LPG was sold around N3.4 – N3.7 million but it came down to N1.9 million when the oil price slumped to all-time low below $30 per barrel. However, with the oil price around $40 per barrel, 20 metric tonnes of LPG currently goes for about N2.4 million.

It was also learnt that gas plants sell 12.5kg cylinder around N2.300 – N2.500 to end users and at about N1,700 – N1,800 to wholesalers.

President of the Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr. Basil Ogbuanu however told THISDAY during the weekend, that NLNG was steadily flooding the domestic market with LPG, while ALGASCO LPG Services and NIPCO were also engaged in importation.

According to him, NLNG

vessel of 13,000MT capacity brings the product to Lagos every two weeks.

“NLNG is steadily supplying the market now. They bring in product every two weeks and it is no longer like before when their vessel spent up to one month in Lagos,” Ogbuanu said.

He however said despite the success recorded by NLNG, the penetration of LPG in the country was still low.

“Despite the success, penetration is still about 10 per cent.

For instance, there are no gas

plants in the whole of North East. Consumption has however gone up in the south east, south south and south west as a lot of people have now realized that LPG is safer, cheaper and more environmental friendly.

There are over 20 gas plants in Enugu. Umuahia, which used to have one gas plant, now has many gas plants. In Lagos, Igando area is now referred to gas road because there are many gas plants there. The same thing goes with Ibadan,” he explained.

BOOK PRESENTATION

R-L: MD/CEO, Technobuilt Concepts, Mr. Ladi Awotinde; Project Manager, Technobuilt Concepts, Mr. Babajide Akinmolu; Final Student of Department of Building Technology, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Miss. Esther Damilola; and Lecturer, Department of Building Technology, Covenant University, Dr. Opeyemi Joshua, during a chef-book presentation by the company to the University after an academic excursion tour of the company’s factory in Lagos...recently

Group Condemns Calls for Kachikwu’s Power: NAPTIN Seeks Operators’ Inputs on Capacity Resignation Building Chineme Okafor in Abuja The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has said that it will welcome the input of operators in Nigeria’s power sector to develop tailor-made training and capacity building products for use in the sector. NAPTIN explained that because of the significant roles which a smart workforce would be expected to play in the development of Nigeria’s power sector, it had asked operators in the sector to partner it to jointly develop curricula that best fitted their operations and also reflected the current dynamics in the electricity market.

The Director General of NAPTIN, Mr. Reuben Okeke said this recently in Abuja when the institute inducted 100 graduate engineers for further training on power systems under its National Graduate Skills Development Programme (NGDSP).

Okeke stated that the institute had also gone ahead in this regards to engage an international consultant, CPCS, with the support of France’s Agence Francaise de Development

(AFD) to develop for it new strategic plans with which it would use to engage with the electricity market and its new innovations. “We wish to call out to prospective employers to also partner with us so that we can jointly develop curriculum relevant to the market’s needs and also undertake quality assurance not only from an academic perspective but also from the market needs,” said Okeke. He further explained: “We are mindful of the fact that the success of the recent power sector reform will in part depend on the availability of a qualified workforce to meet the needs of the industry.”

“With this consciousness in mind, NAPTIN is currently working with CPCS through funding support of the AFD to evolve a new strategic plan which not only encompasses the training needs of the new private entrants but also their participation in the delivery process,” he added.

According to him, when the CPCS concludes its consultancy work, NAPTIN is expected to use it to turn itself into a centre of excellence for power vocational training.

Ejiofor Alike The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) has called on Nigerians to be patient with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu over the lingering fuel crisis in most parts of the country and kicked against calls for his resignation.

The minister has come under heavy fire as fuel crisis lingers with many calling on him to resign just as they kicked against his recent statement that despite the efforts being put in place by the federal government, fuel queues might not completely be eliminated until about the next two months.

But NDIMRC, an oil monitoring group in a statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Stanley Mukoro, urged Nigerians to bear with the minister as he was capable of dealing with the fuel scarcity across the country.

The group made it clear that the minister never put a time frame of May to arrest the situation, describing it as misinterpretation.

“The Minister only said that the solution to the fuel crisis is a gradual process and as an oil monitoring group, we want to appeal to Nigerians to bear with Kachikwu over the lingering fuel scarcity. The minister has apologised to Nigerians over the worrisome situation and we want to implore Nigerians to be patient with the minister who is capable of handling the fuel scarcity once and for all,” the group said.

“President Buhari did not make a mistake in appointing Kachikwu as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and retaining him as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and this is why we are imploring Nigerians who are suffering as a result of the fuel scarcity to be patient with the President and the minister over the situation,” the group added.

It also stated that; “The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources that we know is not happy with the situation and is working round the clock with his team to end the noticeable fuel queues in most parts of the country in the weeks ahead.

We know that efforts are in full gear to eliminate all factors which have so far impeded the free flow of petrol across the country and those calling on him to throw in the towels should be patient with him.”

“There is no point calling on the minister who has apologised to Nigerians over the fuel crisis to resign; he is doing a great job in the oil and gas industry and so we need him around to assist the President.

It is our appeal to Nigerians to ignore the misinterpretation given to the assessment of the fuel supply situation in the country by the minister who never put a time frame of May ending to halt the fuel crisis. Nigerians should be rest assured that the fuel queues will disappear in weeks as we have confidence in the minister and his team, who are working on it and are committed to making the fuel scarcity go away,” the group posited.

“The only frustration the minister is facing at the moment is the reorganisation of NNPC and the cabal who do not want this to take place are out to do everything to thwart his efforts,” the group added.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

‘THE JUDICIARY MUST MUS DEVELOP THE MORAL COURAGE TO T DEAL RUTHLESSLY WITH CORRUPTION’

29.03.2016

Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips

2/DASHBOARD

29.03.2016

A Dying Declaration by the Victim of A Homicide, is Admissible if Made During a Hopeless Expectation of Death PAGE 3

The Code of Conduct Tribunal is not a “Court of Law” – Nwabueze PAGE 4

HURILAWS Writes National Assembly Law Review Committee, Seeks Independent Judiciary PAGE 4

Efficient Exploration and Harnessing the Solid Minerals Resources in the Osun East Communities PAGE 5

‘The Legal Profession is a Great One, Cherished and Admired by All’ PAGE 6

QUOTABLES

‘You do not amend the constitution of a country based on your whims and caprices, leanings of your political party or interest- you look at the collective interest of the nation.

Have we achieved this?’

– Former NBA President, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN

Why the Inelegant Drafting of Charges against Saraki May Scuttle Trial at the CCT PAGE 7

Setting Aside, Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards PAGE 14

MAY AGBAMUCHE-MBU EDITOR JUDE IGBANOI DEPUTY EDITOR TOBI SONIYI ASSISTANT EDITOR AKINWALE AKINTUDE REPORTER TUNDE BUSARI GROUP HEAD OCHI OGBUAKU II ART DIRECTOR

LAW REPORT/3

A Dying Declaration by the Victim of A Homicide, is Admissible if Made During a Hopeless Expectation of Death

I

t is settled that in criminal trials for murder or manslaughter, a statement by the deceased before his/her death, is admissible to prove the cause of death, if the deceased at the time of making the statement believed himself/ herself to be in an imminent danger of approaching death. In the instant appeal, the Supreme Court applied this principle of law in affirming the decisions of the two lower courts that, the initial statements of the deceased were inadmissible and could not exonerate the Appellant

Facts The Appellant at all material times preceding the date of his arrest, was the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly with headquarters at Ajao Estate, Ikeja Lagos. On 22 July 2006, following an accusation by the Appellant that six members of his congregation had indulged in certain immoral behaviours, the Appellant summoned them, assaulted them with various objects and subsequently caused them to be doused with petrol and burnt. Five of the six victims managed to escape the violence, with various injuries inflicted on them. The deceased, Ann Uzoh King, was not as lucky, as she suffered 65% degree burns, which later resulted in her death.

Following this incident, the Appellant was arrested and subsequently arraigned on 26 September 2006 before the High Court of Lagos State (the “trial court”), on a six count charge (as amended), for the attempted murder of the five surviving victims and for the murder of the deceased. At the trial of the Appellant, the Respondent called twelve witnesses and tendered various exhibits, whilst the Appellant testified in his defence and called eight other witnesses. At the conclusion of trial, the trial court convicted the Appellant on each of the six counts, ordered prison sentences in respect of the counts relating to attempted murder, but sentenced him to death in respect of the offence of murder.

Dissatisfied, the Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division (the “Court of Appeal”), which dismissed the Appellant’s appeal and affirmed the conviction and sentences of the Appellant by the trial court. Still dissatisfied, the Appellant appealed to the Supreme Court, on a total of twenty-six grounds from which it distilled twelve issues for determination. On its part, the Respondent distilled nine issues from the Appellant’s grounds of appeal. The Supreme Court, however, determined the appeal on the basis of the issues raised by the Appellant.

Issue number one questions the validity of the trial of the Appellant on an amended information, when the original information was undated, uninitiated and unfiled and in addition, the propriety of the Court of Appeal’s failure to consider and resolve same. On this issue, the Appellant submitted that the information as originally filed was incurably defective, did not exist in law and as such could not be amended. The Appellant submitted further that, the Court of Appeal erred in law by failing to determine this issue.

The complaint in issue number two, is that the trial court suo motu raised the issue of admissibility of Exhibits P1, P4 and P9 (which were statements made by the deceased to the effect that she sustained her injuries from generator explosion) and the evidence of PW2, PW5 and PW7 relating thereto, and expunged same from the record, without hearing the parties.

On this issue, the Appellant submitted that the trial court’s resolution of the aforesaid issue without hearing him on same infringed upon his right to fair hearing. He relied on PDP v OKWOCHA (2012) All FWLR (Pt. 626) 449.

On Issue number three, which borders on the Appellant’s defence of alibi, the Appellant submitted that the Court of Appeal was wrong in upholding the decision of the trial court, which dismissed his defence of alibi, which was to the effect that, he was upstairs in his house at the time of the fire. He submitted that in line with the requirement of the law, he had at the earliest opportunity, set up his defence of alibi, thus giving the police the opportunity to investigate the veracity of same.

Issues number four and five were argued together by the Appellant. They raise the questions whether PW1 is a tainted witness, whose evidence needed corroboration and whether the Court of Appeal was right in affirming the decision of the trial court that the evidence of PW3 and PW4 were corroborated by the evidence of PW1, PW8, PW9 and PW10. The Appellant submitted that the Court of Appeal erred in law in affirming the trial court’s evaluation of the evidence of PW4, which was to the effect that PW4 was telling the truth despite the glaring evidence of her contradictory and inconsistent statements to the police. He submitted further that the evidence of PW1, PW3, PW4, PW9, PW10 and PW11, who were all members of his church, were tainted, as they had ugly encounters with him in the past and had a purpose of their own to serve by giving evidence at the trial against the Appellant.

Issue number six challenges the evaluation of evidence by the trial court. On this issue, the Appellant detailed a long list of facts; he alleged the police failed to investigate. He also argued that the Respondent failed to prove Exhibits P10, P11, P12, P16 and P17 against him, as same were not recovered in his presence or pursuant to any search warrant. He equally argued that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses that

N. S Ngwuta , JSC

In The Supreme Court of Nigeria Holden at Abuja On Friday the 26th Day of February, 2016 Before Their Lordships Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili Olukayode Ariwoola Musa Dattijo Muhammad Justices, Supreme Court SC.200/2013 Between Chukwuemeka Ezeuko (Alias Dr. Rev. King) .... Appellant And The State .......... Respondent Judgment Delivered By Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta, JSC

the Appellant set the victims ablaze outside, in order to avoid burning his sitting room, is flawed because his cars and the whole of his house would have burned down if the stories of the prosecution witnesses were true. He also argued that in any event the evidence of the surviving victims could not be true, since the person who threw the lit match, to set the victims ablaze ought to have been burnt as well.

Issue number seven challenges the propriety of the charges against the Appellant in the absence of credible or reasonable suspicion, that he committed the offences. The Appellant, herein, repeated his arguments in issue number six. Issue number eight borders on the alleged contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case. On this issue the Appellant referred to various inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution, such as the different accounts of where the burning of the victims took place, how the petrol was brought and whether it was match stick or a lighter that was used in igniting the fire. The Appellant, thereafter, submitted that the above inconsistencies create a doubt as to his guilt, which ought to be resolved in his favour. He relied on the case of AKPA v STATE (1991) 5 SCNJ 1 at 661.

On issue number nine, which also borders on evaluation of evidence, the Appellant submitted that it is prejudicial in law for a trial court to accept, as it did in the instant case, the evidence of the prosecution before considering the case of the defence. He relied on STRABAG CONSTRUCTION v IBITOKUN (2010) All FWLR (Pt. 535) 203.

Issue number ten is a complaint against the rejection of the first two statements of the deceased as dying declarations. On this issue, the Appellant submitted that the statements made by the deceased in Exhibit P1 and P4, which stated that the burn injuries she sustained were as a result of a generator explosion, amounted to res gestae. In support of this contention, he relied on the evidence of both PW6 and PW8, which were to the effect that the deceased suffered 65% degree burns and the evidence of PW7, the deceased’s brother, who gave evidence that the deceased informed him that she was in excruciating pains and did not know if she would survive.

Issue number eleven queries the Court of Appeal’s affirmation of the Appellant’s conviction despite the trial court’s failure to reach a conclusion that the DPP’s conduct amounted to persecution and not prosecution. On this issue, the Appellant itemised the following DPP’s conduct he alleged to be persecution, to wit

(i) the DPP’s omission of the two statements of the deceased which exonerated the Appellant; (ii) the omission of the extra judicial statement of the PW8, which was to the effect that most victims of the incident informed him upon getting to the hospital, that their burn injuries were as a result of a generator accident; (iii) the inclusion in the charge of PW10 as a victim of the crime despite the fact that, he did not make a statement to the police at the time the Appellant was charged; and (iv) the fact that the DPP took the prosecution witnesses to the Appellant’s premises to rehearse their testimonies.

On issue number twelve, the Appellant submitted that the prosecution’s failure to tender the murder weapons created a doubt in their case which ought to have been resolved in his favour. He relied on the case of SHANDE v THE STATE (2005) All FWLR (Pt. 229) 1342. He thereafter urged the Supreme Court to resolve all issues raised in his favour and allow the appeal.

On the issue regarding the validity of the Appellant’s trial on the amended information and the failure of the Court of appeal to determine same, the Respondent submitted that although grounds one and two of the Appellant’s amended notice of appeal against the decision of the trial court challenged the validity of the amended information, the Court of Appeal was unable to determine same, since no issues were formulated from the said grounds. The Respondent relied on the case of AKINLAGUN v OSHOBOJA (2006) 12 NWLR (Pt. 993).

On the issue regarding the Appellant’s defence of alibi, the Respondent submitted that where a defence of alibi is demolished by direct and cogent evidence fixing a defendant to the scene of crime, as in the instant case, such alibi needs no investigation.

The Respondent relied on SOWEMINO v THE STATE (2004) 11 NWLR (Pt. 885) 515. The Respondent submitted further that, contrary to the argument of the Appellant, the Appellant did not raise the defence of alibi timeously at the point of his arrest but only sought to do same at the trial court.

On the issue whether PW1 is a tainted witness, the Respondent submitted that PW1 was a victim of the crime and an eyewitness, whose evidence did not require corroboration.

The Respondent argued further that even if PW1 is a tainted witness, the requirement that the Judge should warn itself, is a matter of prudence and the failure to do so will not vitiate the conviction of the Appellant.

On the issue whether or not the evidence of PW3 and PW4 were corroborated by the evidence of other prosecution witnesses, the Respondent argued that the evidence of PW4, pointing to the guilt of the Appellant, was corroborated by the testimonies of the other prosecution witness. He relied on MBELE v STATE (1990) 4 NWLR (Pt. 145) 484.

On the evaluation of evidence by the trial court, the Respondent submitted that the trial court properly evaluated the evidence submitted before it, made its findings and gave reasons for such findings. The Respondent submitted further that contrary to the contention of the Appellant that the trial court accepted the evidence of the prosecution first before considering the evidence of the defence, there is no specific style of writing judgments and it is immaterial whose evidence is evaluated first, as long as the conclusion reached is derived from the evidence before the court. The Respondent relied on the case of GARUBA v YAHAYA (2007) 1 SC (Pt. 11) 262.

On the issue whether the statements of the deceased were dying declarations, the Respondent submitted that the two lower courts were right in holding that the said statements are not dying declarations or res gestae because they were not spontaneously and contemporaneously made. In addition, the Respondent submitted that the danger of approaching death cannot be inferred from surrounding circumstances or opinion of third parties. The Respondent relied on the case of IKORO v THE STATE (2012) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1290) 351.

On the question whether the Respondent proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, the Respondent argued in the affirmative, stating that the evidence before the trial court was the direct evidence of victims of the crime charged and that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgment of the trial court based on the said eyewitness accounts of the incident.

On the issue regarding the contradictions in the case of the prosecution, the Respondent submitted that the said contradictions were not material and did not occasion a miscarriage of justice. The Respondent, thereafter, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal.

Resolution of the Appeal On issue number one, the Supreme Court likened the amendment of the original information in the instant case, to an amendment of pleadings, which dates back to the date the original processes were filed and held that by the principle of “relating back”, it was incorrect for the Appellant to assert that he was tried on a defective six count information. The Supreme Court relied on the case of ROTIMI v MACGREGOR (1974) 11 SC 133, amongst others. Furthermore, the Supreme Court held that it was wrong for the Appellant to accuse the Court of Appeal of failure to determine the instant issue since

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

4/NEWS

29.03.2016

The Code of Conduct Tribunal is not a “Court of Law”– Nwabueze Stories by Akinwale Akintunde

Professor of law and foremost constitutional lawyer, Ben Nwabueze SAN is of the view that a tribunal is not a “court of law” even though it may be described as a court in the general sense of the word.

The senior advocate stated this position in a paper he presented at the Inaugural Law Conference of the Ben Nwabueze Centre for Studies in Constitutional Law & Related Subjects, held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island Lagos In the paper titled “The Code of Conduct Enshrined in the Constitution Of Nigeria And Its Crucial Importance in the Fight Against Corruption “, Nwabueze stated that a court composed of members required by law to be legal practitioners or lawyers learned and experienced in the law, who are versed in the difficult art of sifting evidence and judging the demeanour of witnesses, who are reared in the tradition of individual liberty inculcated in lawyers, which insists, rightly, that it is better for nine guilty persons to go free than for one innocent man to be punished, and who, finally, are obligated to adjudicate disputes according to law, or what is called justice according to law. This constitutes one of the essential marks of a court of law.

According to him, The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which consists of a Chairman and two other persons does not qualify to be a “Court of Law’ because whilst the Chairman must be “a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a Judge of a superior court of record in Nigeria”, the other two members are not required to be legal practitioners or lawyers.

“It should be stated right-away that the term “court of law” is in quote to emphasise the special significance which it carries. A tribunal may well be described as a court in the general sense of the word, but that does not

make it a court of law, meaning a court composed of members required by law to be legal practitioners or lawyers learned and experienced in the law, who are versed in the difficult art of sifting evidence and judging the demeanour of witnesses, who are reared in the tradition of individual liberty inculcated in lawyers, which insists, rightly, that it is better for nine guilty persons to go free than for one innocent man to be punished, and who, finally, are obligated to adjudicate disputes according to law, or what is called justice according to law. This constitutes one of the essential marks of a court of law.

“By paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, the CCT consists of a Chairman and two other persons.

But whilst the Chairman must be “a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a Judge of a superior court of record in Nigeria”, the other two members are not required to be legal practitioners or lawyers; whether they are in fact lawyers or not (about which I have no information) does not really matter; what matters is that they are not required by the law of the Constitution to be legal practitioners or lawyers.

“The CCT is required to (or may) sit in a case with all its three members, including the two who are not required by law to be lawyers; all three have equal power in forming the decision of the Tribunal.

It is a contradiction in terms to call by the name “court of law”, a tribunal consisting of three members, two of whom are not required by law to be legal practitioners or lawyers.”, Professor Nwabueze stated.

The professor of law further stated that the Constitution prescribes a qualification as a legal practitioner and a minimum post-qualification experience as a legal practitioner for the members of the courts which it establishes and invests with

L-R: Fellow, Ben Nwabueze Centre for Studies in Constitutional Law & Related Subjects, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN, former Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Adesola Oguntade, foremost Constitutional Lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze SAN, former Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Samson Odemwingie Uwaifo and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Salihu Modibo Alfa Belgore at the Inaugural Law Conference of the Ben Nwabueze Centre for Studies in Constitutional Law & Related Subjects, held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island Lagos, last Thursday Photo: Sunday Adigun

criminal jurisdiction.

“If the CCT is established by the Constitution as a court of law invested with criminal jurisdiction, the Constitution cannot, consistently with the qualification it prescribes for the other courts it establishes and invests with criminal jurisdiction, require only one, the chairman, of the three members of the CCT to be a qualified legal practitioner.

This compels the conclusion that the CCT is not conceived and established by the Constitution as a court of law, and is not invested with criminal jurisdiction, even if only limited criminal jurisdiction”, he added.

Also, speaking on the same topic at the event, Carol Ajie, another constructional and human rights lawyer, formulated two issues as to whether a criminal prosecution before the CCT is competently initiated by a Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice in the absence of an incumbent Attorney General of the Federation; and whether the Tribunal is properly constituted to try the case sitting with its Chairman and one other member.

Ajie noted that based on the duties assigned to the Attorney

General of the Federation in section 174 (1) of the Constitution, it would be wrong for a Director or other officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice to exercise the AGF’s power to initiate criminal proceedings against anyone in exercise of the powers conferred on the Attorney General of the Federation by Section 174(1) & (2) Of the Constitution.

She cited the Supreme Court decisions in SARAKI v F.R.N (2016) 3 NWLR (Part 1500) page 531 at 582 para D-G where the apex court held that the Attorney-General’s power of public prosecution is not exclusive to him as any other authority or person can institute and undertake criminal prosecution without his authority.

According to Ajie, the Supreme Court relied on F.R.N v.

ADEWUNMI (2007) 10 NWLR (Part 1042) 399, adding that the case was however different from the ongoing trial of Bukola Saraki because there was no Attorney General in place who gave the director or any officer of the Ministry the power to prosecute Saraki.

“Therefore where the Attorney

General of the Federation has not been appointed to occupy the office of AGF, one cannot seriously argue that a Director or other officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice would exercise the AGF’s power to initiate criminal proceedings against anyone in exercise of the powers conferred on the Attorney General of the Federation by Section 174(1) & (2) Of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. Regardless of the Law Officers Act, a subordinate and scanty piece of legislation cannot override the rich text of our constitutional provision.

“However, we must pause to ponder whether powers exercised or donated by the incumbent AG are asphyxiated when AG leaves office.

“To take care of the concerns that the administration of criminal justice would come to a complete halt as pending criminal matters would stop whenever Attorneys General exit and resume when they assume office. For the avoidance of doubt, criminal proceedings would not come to an abrupt end as pending matters authorised by the AG or AGF remain pending despite

a natural person not being appointed to the office of the Attorney General”, Ajie Stated.

On the issue of whether the Tribunal is properly constituted to try the case sitting with its Chairman and one other member, Ajie stated “the ordinary dictionary defines “consist” to mean “form” “compose” “comprise”. Three is the required number to achieve harmony e.g,. in the event of a tie, the third member would break the tie.

Won’t he or she? Therefore the draftspersons are right in making “3” mandatory for the Tribunal to be able to sit in judgment where three (3)“consist” or “form” a Tribunal session. It is my respectful view that words should be given their ordinary meaning.

“The provisions of the Constitution being sacrosanct cannot be amended, altered or removed except by a subsequent constitutional amendment. Therefore importing the words ‘two is a quorum’ under the guise of applying the Interpretation Act where an ambiguity does not arise defeats its ordinary, natural and plain grammatical construction”, she added.

HURILAWS Writes National Assembly Law Review Committee, Seeks Independent Judiciary A Lagos-based human rights group, Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS), has sent suggestions to the National Assembly joint Committees on Constitution Review for the (Fourth Alteration) Bill under consideration at the National Assembly.

HURILAWS in its suggestions titled "Evolving A Constitution that Works for Nigeria" is seeking the introduction of a Declaration of Nullity Clause, Clarification of the appropriation procedure for the judiciary, Clarification of Jurisdiction of the Federal High Court and the Strengthening of National institutions.

Addressing journalists in Lagos last Tuesday on its suggested amendment to the Constitution, HURILAWS Senior Legal/Programme Coordinator, Collins Okeke stated that the fact that Nigeria's democracy even economy is heading for the rocks is so

apparent even a blind man can see it.

"To arrest the situation deserves urgent actions aimed at effectively reversing the ugly trend. The major cause of the political and economic tension being experienced today in the country is that the country has not been able to build consensus on the constitution.

The phenomenon largely accounts for the extremely fragile and slow development of the country. It is also the reason for the continued unrest and agitations across the country.

"The National Assembly has adopted a piecemeal approach to altering the 1999 Constitution. Three alterations have been successfully made to the Constitution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Bill failed because former President, Goodluck Jonathan withheld his assent hence the need for another

attempt. Both chambers of the National Assembly have again inaugurated committees on the constitution. The Senate committee is headed by Deputy Senate President; Ike Ekweremadu While the House of Representative committee is headed by the Deputy Speaker; Hon. Yusuf Suleiman Lasun.

“For us, the crucial issues in the nation’s constitution include but is not limited to: restructuring the political arrangement to strengthen the states and local governments through the devolution of more powers and funding - this many constitutional experts believe would strengthen the unity of the country, but would also ensure stability and prosperity; review of the legislative list to reduce the exclusive list which as it stands confers too much power, responsibilities and wealth at the centre as well as the concurrent list which empowers the federal

government and gives it more say in matters that ordinarily should be the exclusive domain of state governments; Strengthening key institutions that support democracy like the Courts, INEC, Police, ICPC, the Accountant General, the Attorney General, CBN, the National Human Rights Commission, the EFCC, the Public Defender, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the AuditorGeneral etc.

“HURILAWS has reviewed the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Bill now under consideration at the National Assembly and have made contributions to the Bill”, Okeke further stated.

Okeke noted that Section 1 of the Constitution makes a proclamation of supremacy, which is not enough.

“The section should contain a Declaration of Nullity Clause i.e. the Constitution shall

declare unconstitutional acts null and void. It is not enough for the Courts alone to declare nullity. Evidence of violation of constitutional provisions should be enough for acts to be considered null and void.

The Courts would only play a narrow role of declaring invalid, any breach of the constitution.

Section 1 of the principal Act should be altered by inserting immediately after subsection (3), a new Subsection “1(4)”, he opined.

According to him, the subsection should have stated, “If any act is inconsistent with the Constitution, that act shall be null and void.”

The human rights group also sought clarification on Section 81 (1) & (2) of the Constitution which gives the impression that budget estimates of the Judiciary is part of the Appropriation Bill.

HUILAWS proposed an insertion that reads, “81 (2)

(A) Notwithstanding Subsection (2), estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Judiciary are not part of the Appropriation Bill” “81 2 (B) The National Judicial Council shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly at any anytime in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Judiciary.”

The group noted that the Federal High Court and specialised administrative tribunals such as the Investment and Securities Tribunal and Tax Appeal Tribunal seem to share jurisdiction on some subjects, adding that although this has been contested up to the Supreme Court because of the provision of S 251 (1) of the Constitution. The Constitution needs to clarify the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court and these specialised tribunals to avoid conflicts.

29.03.2016

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Efficient Exploration and Harnessing the Solid Minerals Resources in the Osun East Communities Olumide K. Obayemi

H

ere, we posit that the Ife/Ijesa community relationship with the Federal and State governments with regards to accruable royalties and taxes flowing from available mineral resources, thereby incentivizing greater local and international investment and creation of joint ventures, employment, improved infrastructure and revenue. Key processing plants will be built along the dualized Akure/Ilesa and the Gbongan/ Ife Expressways, and, in near future, the domestic manufacturing sector would start purchasing key raw materials within the Ife/Ijesa community.

The eastern part of Osun State comprising of the Ife/Ijesa areas is blessed with several mineral resources in commercial quantities, such as Granite, Gold, Tantalite and Talc. From Atakumosa East Local government and spreading to Ilesa comprising of Ifewara, Igangan, Ipole, Iperindo, Eti-oni, Odogbo, Sokoto, Arowojobe, Faforiji, Ajebamidele and Ilesa, Gold alluvium has always been mined

by Artisanal miners from time immemorial.

The pertinent question now is how to properly harness these mineral resources within the context of the present President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, in such a way that the glories of yesteryears can be replicated all over again, and, perhaps, to a greater height.

Thus, on October 5, 2015, President Buhari stated: Our Government came into office at a time when many people had abandoned the country’s manufacturing, agricultural and mining sectors. We are doing our utmost best to encourage diversification into these sectors which can employ a lot of people.

We will make agriculture, mining the mainstay of our economy.

In the same vein, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development had in February 2016 declared that: Dependence on oil is simply not working for us. President Muhammadu Buhari has therefore decided to prioritise the repositioning of two major sectors—Mining and Agriculture, with a view to maximally exploiting their potential to increase government revenue, create jobs, and expand the range of economic opportunities available to Nigerians and investors.

Our government is therefore carrying out broad ranging reforms aimed at strengthening the robust policy and regulatory framework currently in place. We expect that these reforms will once again make Nigeria a destination of choice for investments in mining. Attracting investors to a resurgent Nigerian mining industry is not about simply closing transactions, we are committed to policy predictability, coherence, accountability and transparency in the sector.

Our goal ultimately, is to ensure that these new investments will lead to significant socio-economic outcomes.

In Nigeria, “Minerals” mean any substance whether in solid, liquid, or gaseous form occurring

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola

in or on the earth, formed by or subjected to geological processes including occurrences or deposits of rocks, coal, coal bed gases, bituminous shales, tar sands, any substance that may be extracted from coal, shale or tar sands, mineral water, and mineral components in tailings, and with waste piles but with the exclusion of Petroleum and waters without mineral content.

The legislation governing the solid minerals sector in Nigeria are: a. Minerals and Mining Act No. 20 of 2007 (the MMA), i.e., the principal legislation regulating the Nigerian mining sector, and vesting the control, regulation and ownership of all mineral resources in the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). b. The National Minerals and Metals Policy, launched by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD), in January 2008. c. Nigerian Minerals and Mining Regulations (2011) (the ‘Regulations’), establishing a more coordinated and accountable solid minerals sector in the country, stamping out the discretionary grant of mineral titles, setting out the rules, procedures and processes for the acquisition of mineral titles, and giving effect to the MMA. d. Company and Allied Matters Act (“CAMA”) Cap 20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (2004) (“CAMA”) regulating company formation and operation in Nigeria. e. Companies Income Tax Act (“CITA”) Cap 21, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (2004) (“CITA”).

There are certain Priority Issues that must be addressed by the current reforms being carried on: a. Improved Geosciences Data: the government must ensure competent and efficient consolidation of existing investment grade data reports and also conduct additional research to publish critical data for private sector companies (e.g. mapping location, quality, and grade of deposits); these efforts should be complemented by a Ministry-led Investment Promotion Agency. b. Investment in Critical Infrastructure: the Nigerian government must commit significant resources to improving Nigeria’s infrastructure, with a focus on improving electricity supply and access to improve business operations, and developing key rail and road ways to improve material transport. c. Supporting Federal-State Partnerships:

Right of Reply Re: South Africa-Nigeria Forging Ahead with Solid Minerals Dear Mrs. Agbamuche-Mbu, I do hope this message meets you well. I have always enjoyed your well thought out articles especially regarding the minerals resources sub sector and I must commend your efforts. I had the privilege of being at the PDAC conference in Canada where I came to the conclusion that We are not serious enough to be taken seriously by industry players. We lack the political will to effect radical reforms in the sector. Our adulation to matters of this sector is hypocritical and pretentious. When the oil finally dries, we may demonstrate seriousness

indeed and in fact. The federal government needs to unburden itself and allow States the opportunity to play regulatory and supervisory roles. I thank you for your efforts and hope that one day, you will be appreciated. I advise the Governor of Cross River State on Mineral Resources. He had the foresight to nominate and sponsor a delegation for the conference and I am grateful to him. He has his eyes on the future. We came to the realisation that we have a long way to go. Keep on with the good work.

Joe Edet Special Adviser

Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi

There should be a strong initiative to review the relationship between the Federal and State government with regards to royalties and taxes, thereby incentivizing greater State investment and creation of joint ventures. d. Improving Sector Formalisation: There should a separate initiative to explore options supporting sector formalisation, including strong collaboration with Miners’ Association, improved training and development of mine inspectorate officers, and continued evaluation of the license and regulatory framework. e. Promotion of Import Substitution via Beneficiation/Value Addition: the government must continue to work to optimise the mining value chain by encouraging the beneficiation of the nation’s resources within the economy, to meet the demand for refined products locally and to benefit maximally from exports.

There are advantages for the federal, State and Local governments in improved mining sector especially in Osun East: a. GDP Diversification: Mining and supporting industries will increase their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the coming decades; and in near term, the Ife/Ijesa community should be able to share additional revenue that will flow from mining within the community, which will, also invariably, increase Nigeria’s direct and indirect GDP contributions. b. Growth in Jobs/Employment: Job growth will resume in the mining sector, especially in the Ife/Ijesa community with creation of jobs across a range of specialty areas, e.g., geology, finance, engineering services, etc c. Rise in capital Flows into the Mining Sector and Into the Ife/Ijesa Community: Invariably, capital will start to flow into the sector and the Osun East community, boosting key operations and setting the Ife/Ijesa people up or long term prosperity and success as investors will become more confident in the stability of the growing mining sector within the Ife/Ijesa communities. d. Growth in Domestic Processing: the Mining value chain and beneficiation cycles will start up in the Ife/Ijesa community, with key processing plants finalised and working once again; the domestic manufacturing sector will be able to start purchasing key raw materials within the Ife/Ijesa community, e.g., Granite, Gold, Tantalite and Talc. e. Growth in Tax Revenues: tax revenues will start to grow slowly, and then likely accelerate over the medium term as investors’ confidence and production results begin to create a virtuous cycle; that is when lift-off happens.

Currently the rate of tax on solid minerals in Nigeria is 30% on assessable income. In Nigeria Mineral Taxation comprises of all taxes and royalties (direct, indirect and duties) imposed on the extraction of minerals inclusive of both hydrocarbons (such as oil, condensate, and gas) and solid hard-rock minerals (such as copper, silver, and gold); but excluding abundant minerals with little rent such as sand and gravel).

One of the ways by which revenue can be raised from mining in the Ife/Ijesa region is the Ring-Fencing Rule which is a particular means of raising revenue from mining companies by limiting the losses claimable. This rule was provided for in Ghana’s 2012 Budget Statement which directed that losses incurred with respect to one mining site will no longer be available for

offset against profits generated from another contract area or site belonging to the same company in determining income subject to corporate income tax. Similar to Ghana, Kazakhstan has a rule that provides that subsurface users operating under more than one subsurface contract are required to maintain separate accounts and records for tax purposes with respect to each contract or other activity. The subsurface contract miner is not permitted to offset costs of one mining contract against income of another contract or activity. Since July 2010, Tanzania also has a “ring fencing rule” in that losses incurred in one mine cannot be used to offset profits of another mine, notwithstanding that both mines are part of the same legal entity.

Further, the Ife/Ijesa community must explore the proper use of the Resource Rent Tax, which is the economic value of the natural resource to the owner. Many countries levy a fee on the economic activities taking place in the use of the land. Such fees may be called “rent,” “land use fee,” “Surface rental” or “occupation fee.” The resource rent tax is obtained by deducting from its market price, the costs of bringing the resource to the market. It is a pure profit which constitute an ideal tax base from which a large amount of tax revenue can accrue to government with the least economic efficiency or tax burden. Thus, the classic definition of resource rent is the excess of the total project lifetime value arising from the exploitation of a deposit over the sum of all costs of exploitation including the compensation to all factors of production. The latter includes the minimum return on capital required by the investor.

A compensatory return on capital would consist of a basic return equivalent to the rate of interest on risk-free long term borrowing plus a margin the investor considers necessary to compensate for the technical, commercial and political risks associated with a particular investment. In Nigeria, the aim of resource rent is to capture part of the resource rent of a mining project. It is a form of profit based tax payable when a certain threshold rate of return on total cash flow has been realised.

It attaches taxation to the projects profitability.

All expenses are recovered first and a minimum return on the project should have been obtained before the tax is due.

Finally, the Ife/Ijesa community can provide incentives to foreign investors towards attracting them to the community with the use of Fiscal Stability Agreements. Thus, it is possible in some jurisdictions for a mining company making an investment, to agree to a level of fiscal stability with the government, such that certain tax increases will not apply to the company under the terms of the agreement. The Fiscal Stability Agreement can manifest in different forms, for example, Argentina has a statutory fiscal stability agreement with a term of 30 years while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mining companies must negotiate Capital Allowance rates in the mining agreement as well as the tax base for determining the mining royalty payable to the government. Further, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mining companies can negotiate a specific mining regime depending upon the magnitude of the mining investment. However, in contrast to the idea of Fiscal Stability Agreements, countries such as Indonesia, no longer allow companies to enter into negotiated tax stability agreements. The tax stability contracts between the government of Indonesia and the mining companies ended in 2009 due to the fact that the Indonesian Government sought to bring mining companies in line with the prevailing tax regime by re-negotiating the existing mining “Contracts of Work”. Moreover, many historic mining contracts have low royalty rates and countries are seeking to raise tax revenue which is why the existence of a fiscal stability agreement does not necessarily ensure the government will not try to re-negotiate the tax stability agreement should the country have a substantial drop in tax revenues or increase in government expenditures during a crisis situation or economic downturn. For example the Government of Peru enacted a special mining contribution applicable to companies with tax stability agreements though it requested that companies voluntarily enter into agreements with the government to pay the special mining contribution.

Olumide K. Obayemi, an Energy Law attorney admitted both in California and Nigeria, is from Ijebu-Jesa, in Osun East Senatorial District.

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29.03.2016

When it is Unfair to Castigate the Judiciary Ikechukwu Nnamani

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orruption is so pervasive in Nigeria that it is by no means surprising that there are now well known corrupt members of the higher Bench. One clear pointer to gross misconduct is the regularity with which the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), headed by the country’s Chief Justice, penalises judges and makes its actions public knowledge. There has never been any point in Nigeria’s history when so many members of the Bench have been punished for professional misconduct as now. The NJC, a creation of the 1999 Constitution, is having a salutary effect on our polity.

Academic purists who criticise the NJC as a contradiction of the principle of federalism are obviously in grave error. Where would our democracy and even the country itself have been today without the NJC? However, it does seem that some elements are hiding under the shadow of the commendable anti-graft war in the country to wage a most unconscionable war against noble judges for purely private and political ends. The best example is the well choreographed media campaign against the Enugu State Chief Judge, The Honourable Justice Innocent Umezulike, a former Law lecturer at three leading universities whose books and erudite judgments earned him long ago the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) national honour.

The main charge against the Chief Judge is forgery and false pretence. He is accused of signing the execution order by the state chief judge made in 1985 when he was not a member of the bench, let alone a chief judge.

The accusation arose from the judgment given by the Chief Judge of old Anambra State, now today’s Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu states, with headquarters in Enugu coal city. The Anambra State’s chief judge then was The Honourable Justice Paul K. Nwokedi, who gave a judgment in a case involving the family of APC Iloabachie , an architect from Ogidi in Idemmili North Local Government Area of today’s Anambra State. The judgment could not be executed immediately because one of the parties to the dispute proceeded to the Court of Appeal against the decision and from there to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Anambra State had been split into Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states and Hon. Justice P. K. Nwokedi had been elevated from being a state chief judge to a Supreme Court justice.

Before the Supreme Court could deliver judgment on the Iloabachie family matter, The Hon Justice Nwokedi had retired from the Nigerian judiciary and relocated to his hometown of Achalla in Awka North Local Government of Area of Anambra State.

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the then Anambra State Chief Judge, P. K. Nwokedi. Therefore, the judgment had to be executed immediately. Since Nwokedi was no longer on the Bench in Anambra State, the person holding the office of the Enugu State Chief Judge, The Hon Justice

Umezulike, signed it, in accordance with Section 287, subsection one of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It was not possible to recall Justice Nwokedi from retirement and make him the chief judge of Enugu State so that he could sign the execution order. Nor was it sensible to ask him to sign it in 2015 and backdate it to 1985. The fact that Hon. Justice Umezulike signed the order in his capacity as the chief judge of Enugu State provided the ground for a particular lawyer based in Enugu to accuse him of forgery and false pretence.

Of course, there is more to it than meets the eye. Hon. Justice Umezulike informed the Eastern Nigerian Bar Forum in Enugu on Friday, March 6, 2016, that the lawyer in question has two different cases of forgery before his court. The Iloabachie family of Ogidi in Anambra State is accusing him of forging the will of Architect APC Iloabachie, their patriarch. What is more, Mrs Ifeoma Nkwocha, wife of one of the foremost building contractors in Enugu, Chief Reuben O. Nkwocha, an indigene of Enugwu Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, went to court against him for allegedly tampering with her husband’s will in respect of his property at 44 Imoke Street, GRA, Enugu.

The lawyer has refused to come forward to answer these charges. Consequently, the chief judge was constrained to issue a warrant for his arrest.

There is another reason no one seems to want to broach: the chief judge has given judgments unfavourable to some politicians

from Enugu State who are based in Abuja. It is generally believed that the lawyer is being financed in his campaign by the politicians.

This explanation looks pretty plausible. The campaign against Justice Umezulike is well oiled. There is hardly any newspaper or electronic media in Nigeria which has not carried news stories and articles against the chief judge by the lawyer. Needless to state, there have been petitions to the National Judicial Council which dismissed them for lack of merit.

True, judges are strongly encumbered in their response to public criticisms. For instance, they cannot call press conferences and address issues, unlike members of the other two arms of government, namely, the legislature and executive. They cannot grant even ordinary informal press interviews. Some clever people now capitalise on this situation to execute their own private agendas against some members of the judiciary. In the case of Hon Justice Umezulike, the media has failed a basic principle of journalism and natural justice: always hear the other side.

Of course, they could not have gone to the Enugu State chief judge for his own side of the story, but they could have approached the head of the public relations unit of the Ministry of Justice.

The ongoing savagery against the Enugu State Chief Judge in the media is just unjustifiable and unconscionable. Hon Justice Umezulike, OFR, has not more than three or so years to remain in office.

Mr Nnamani, who retired from the Ministry of Justice, is based in Enugu.

Legal Personality of the Week Caleb Gal Dajan

‘The Legal Profession is a Great One, Cherished and Admired by All’ I am Caleb Gal Dajan, from Pankshin Local Government of Plateau State. I went to the University of Jos, for both my LLB and LLM degrees. I left the University in 1987. I belong to the famous ‘88 class of the Nigerian Law School. I was the first Legal Officer at what was then Orient Bank of Nigeria, Enugu when I did my NYSC year. I set up my own Chambers in 1993 after serving my tutelage in a Law Firm for about 4 years. I am an active member of the Nigeria Bar Association. I served as the Chairman of the Jos Branch from 2006 to 2010 after which I contested for the position of First Vice President of the National Bar Association and lost to my friend, learned colleague and class mate, Osas Justy Erhabor during the 2012 Elections in Abuja. I am an active Golfer, infact I served as the Captain of one of the Oldest Golf Courses in West Africa, Rayfield Golf Club 1913, from 2004 to 2006. I am also an active member of the following: the International Bar Association (IBA), Common- Wealth Lawyers Association (ALF).

I am a NEC member of the NBA and have been so since 2006 till date. I presently serve in the following Committees of the Bar: Election Monitoring Group and African Bar Leaders Planning Committee.

The Head Office of my Law Firm, Caleb G. Dajan & Co, is in Jos, though I have an Office in Abuja with Associate Offices in Kaduna, Lagos and Kano. I have been recognised and awarded by a couple of Organisations and Institutes.

Have you had any challenges in your career as a lawyer and if so what were the main challenges?

Sure! The challenges were more pronounced at the early stage of my practice.

As a founding partner of my Firm, I had dreams of the kind of Law Firm I wanted to set up, but my biggest challenge has always been that of funds. I thank God for few Clients, Friends and Family members for coming to my aid at the start of my

Rights procedure. I obtained an Exparte Order signed by Justice A. A. B Gumel, J. (as he then was) of the Federal High Court Jos. As we rushed to the Police Station to serve the authority with the Court Order, we learnt that the children were gunned down in the night “as they were trying to escape from the Cell!” It was a bad day for me. Till today, I assume a guilt that was not mine. I believe the teenagers were innocent. I visited them 2 times in the cell and interviewed them.

Caleb Gal Dajan

practice.

What was your worst day as a lawyer?

Of my almost three decades of practicing law, my worst day was when I lost two innocent teenagers to the bullets of the Police. After a musical show at the Polo Ground in Jos, the teenagers along with many other spectators that came for the show left the venue for their various homes. As they trekked to join the main road, they bumped into a crowd running in the confusion, they also joined the crowd amidst the shout of thief thief, the two teenagers were arrested on the allegation that they attempted snatching a car from a woman at “GUN POINT” they were therefore dumped at the Police Cell at CID Office. These teenagers were students in a Secondary School and the Police did not recover any gun(s) from them. After more than a week in detention, their parents approached me and I filed a Suit under the Fundamental Human

What was your most memorable experience?

I will ever remember a day in Court in 1991, I was preparing for my wedding which was coming up some few weeks from then. My matter was for judgment and we had announced appearances for the parties in readiness for taking the Judgment, it was a matter bordering on the dissolution of marriage. I was for the Petitioner. The Judge, Justice Dauda J. Azaki (as he then was) of blessed memory, raised his head so as to take our appearances and noticed that both the petitioner and Respondent wore the same uniform clothes to the Court on that fateful day, Surprised!, the Judge called me and said, “Mr. Dajan, do you really want me to dissolve this marriage?”.

Many years after, I still have the mental picture of the Petitioner (The man) and the Respondent (The woman, who also cross-petitioned on different grounds), both sobbing in open Court and asking the Judge, almost as a chorus, to save their marriage after the Judge remarked about their uniform clothes, though they came from separate abodes.

Who has been most influential in your life?

I think my Father. He has a huge influence on me. He was strict and firm with us. At a point I questioned his paternity of me. My good friends

still complimented my father as I grew up long after his death.

Why did you become a lawyer?

I think first of all, my good result dictated my direction to study law more than anything else. I studied very hard in Secondary School and participated in literary activities in secondary school. I acted as a Judge and a lawyer a lot in school dramas. Nobody cajoled me into studying law. I now thank God for my choice. This is where I truly belong.

What would your advice be to anyone wanting a career in law?

The Legal Profession is a great one, cherished and admired by all in the society and the world at large. And we must remain men of integrity. There is no greater metric to judge a person’s worth than integrity, then compassion, then courage and then wisdom. Every other virtue, the virtues of patience, humility charity and good industry flow from these. My prayer is that anybody wanting a career in Law should possess those four cardinal virtues at the highest level.

If you had not become a lawyer, what would you have chosen?

I probably would have been a pioneer Nollywood actor! I would have read Theater Arts because of my love for Literature!

(Laughs).

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

I respect the will of God for me at any point in time, this time last year, three of my class mates in Law school were Governors; another was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. We had Senators and people serving in various other sectors of the economy. Not to even mention those privileged to be Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Let His will be done in my life 10 years from now.

29.03.2016

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Why the Inelegant Drafting of Charges against Saraki May Scuttle Trial at the CCT Taking a critical look at the charges against the Senate President in his ongoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Jude Igbanoi observes that the proceedings may end in a mistrial due to the inelegant drafting of the charges.

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aking a critical look at the charges against the Senate President in his ongoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Jude Igbanoi observes that the proceedings may end in a mistrial due to the inelegant drafting of the charges.

The ongoing trial of the Senate President Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal stands a chance of going down in Nigeria’s political history as one of the most celebrated and perhaps most legally contentious trials.

It no doubt also stands a good chance of enriching the nation’s jurisprudence.

Not much was expected from the prosecution and defence when the case was instituted against Saraki, but it has developed several twists and turns to the point of almost now assuming a life of its own. The case has taken a full voyage to the Apex Court and back, with certitude that it would make that excursion to the hallowed chambers of the Supreme Court once more.

On September 11, 2015, the Code of Conduct Bureau brought a 13-count charge of corruption against the President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki. He was accused of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Code of Conduct Bureau while he was Governor of Kwara State.

The initial public perception was that the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption crusade was gathering momentum, but after a few appearances before the Tribunal, the hype gradually abated and some began to read political undertones into the matter. It was argued that the Tribunal was not a criminal court and thus lacked the power to issue a bench warrant or apply the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 in its proceedings. Saraki contended that the charges preferred against him were incompetent on the basis that they were filed in the absence of the Attorney-General of the Federation in office.

However, Saraki’s legal team led by former NBA President, Mr. J.B. Daudu SAN based their arguments on the issues of jurisdiction and whether the Senate President can be tried before the CCT. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the prosecution, Saraki is now back at the CCT to defend the substantive suit.

There have been legal arguments on a number of issues in the Saraki trial, including the argument that the issue of jurisdiction did not need to go all the way to the Supreme Court in the first place. Another argument is whether Saraki’s decision to have a change of counsel was well thought out.

One’s view is that the main issue in the Saraki trial is the duplicity and seemingly interminable juggling and amendments of charges against the Senate President, giving verve to the insinuation that the trial could be politically motivated.

A cursory examination of the charges against Saraki would necessarily elicit curiosity as to how the prosecution drafted 13 charges against the Senate President, most of which are basically on one issue and repetitive. Counts 1 – 8 for instance are based on the same issue of acquisition and ownership of properties by Carliste Properties Ltd. The heavy weather being made by the prosecution regarding the properties at No. 17B, Mcdonald Street, Plot 2A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, 37A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, 1, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja, 3, Tagus Street, Maitama Abuja, counts, 5-8, essentially referring to the same property at Maitama, Abuja.

This is where the prosecution had the misfortune of not doing a thorough legal drafting of the charges. Their main argument is that Saraki contravened the provisions of Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), and punishable under Section 23(2) of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act. Now, if the prosecution is relying strictly and solely on these provisions of the Constitution and the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act, then it is glaring that it did not avert its mind to Saraki’s defence that those properties were acquired and are owned by Carliste Properties Ltd. Perhaps in a hurry to indict, they also neglected to take cognisance of the fact that Saraki had declared in his Assets Declaration Forms that he holds substantial interest in a number of companies duly and legally registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act. At APPENDIX 6 of the form, Saraki Declared under - Stocks/Shares in Nigeria and outside Nigeria that he holds substantial interests in named companies including, Skyview Properties Ltd, Carliste Properties and Investment

own and characteristics of perpetual succession in the event of the death or retirements of the owners or the directors that were appointed through the memorandum and articles of association. Upon the incorporation of a company, it acquires capacity of an artificial person as such it can own property, become a party to a contract, act in a tortuous manner and become tortuously liable, commit a crime, can sue and be sued, has a nationality and therefore becomes domiciled in nature and even has rights that could be attributed to a natural person though artificial in character. A company acquires the characteristics of a distinct legal person upon incorporation.

A corporate veil could be lifted whenever the court wants to find out who is behind the fraudulent and improper conduct of a company. Apart from the foregoing, this article intends to examine in a detailed manner the legal concept of piercing or lifting the veil of incorporation and what warrants it.

Senate President Bukola Saraki

Ltd, Bas Trading and Manufacturing Ltd, Quality Packing Ltd, Better Foods Ltd, Limkers Ltd, Orion Agro Ltd, PPI Ltd, Bastone Ltd. The argument in favour of the defence is that the properties named in the charge sheet by the prosecution actually belong to Carliste Properties Ltd in which Saraki owns and holds shares. The logical question to ask under the circumstances is whether, if owning properties is a crime, shouldn’t Carliste Properties Ltd and not Saraki be prosecuted?

CAMA at Section 38. (1) provides thus ‘Except to the extent that the company's memorandum or any enactment otherwise provides, every company shall, for the furtherance of its authorised business or objects, have all the powers of a natural person of full capacity.’ CAMA also provides that any company duly registered in Nigeria can own moveable and immoveable properties in its name anywhere in Nigeria ad can dispose off such properties legally.

One’s view therefore is that if the properties in question are those of Carliste and any doubts were raised as to their true ownership, one of the several options open to the prosecution would be Sections 310-313 CAMA as they relate to the provisions for the investigation of companies and their affairs by inspectors appointed by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the consequential powers of the CAC and the Attorney General of the Federation to Act on the reports of investigation contained in Section 314-329 CAMA. Even then, they can only come under and application through a court that has proper jurisdiction as provided at Section 407. (1), the Federal High Court within whose area of jurisdiction the registered office or head office of the company is situated.

The Supreme Court has held in a plethora of decided case the sanctity of the juristic personality of a registered company. In PASTOR AKIN OLATUNJI v AKINGBASOTE & ORS (2015) LPELR-24275 (CA) it was held that ‘An incorporated company is a creature of law clothed with an independent legal personality from the moment of incorporation, distinct and separate from those who labored to give birth to it. It is capable of acquiring, holding and alienating property, both movable and immovable.

If a company is wound up all the assets of the company must first of all be identified and settled. Subsequently, the Court can then order the sharing of the remaining assets (if any) among the parties entitled thereto. Also See, MARINA NOMINEES LTD v FEDERAL BOARD OF INLAND REVENUE (1986) 2 NWLR (Pt 20) 48 WILT & BUSCH LTD v GOODWILL & TRUST INV. LTD (2004) 8 NWLR (Pt 874) 179 and OKAFOR v IGWILO (1997) 1 NWLR (Pt.527) 36 at 39." Per ABIRIYI, J.C.A. (Pp. 19-20, paras. E-A).

Even, if doubt was entertained over the ownership of the Carliste Properties Ltd, could the Tribunal not have availed itself of the provisions of the principle of Lifting the Veil of Incorporation?

Lifting the Veil In the locus classicus of SALOMON v SALOMON & CO LTD (1897) AC 22 (HL), it has since been established that a corporation is a different entity from the owners, shareholders or directors. A corporation has a life of its

Separate Legal Entity One of the characteristic features of a corporation is the fact that it is a separate entity from the owners under the law. A registered company’s legal rights and obligations are wholly separate from its owners, own entitlements and duties. Property acquired by the company belongs to it and not to its members. Exceptions and circumstances to this rule is the Liability for Fraud and Doing Justice to Victims. This was held in ALADE v ALICE (NIG) LTD, 71 Galadima JSC stated that one of the occasions when the veil of incorporation of a company could be lifted by the court is when the company is liable for fraud. The consequences of recognising the separate personality of a company is to draw a veil of incorporation over the company. One is generally therefore not entitled to go behind or lift this veil.

Circumstances in Which a Company’s Veil can be Lifted Where the Company is incorporated to Perpetrate Fraud - JONES v LIPMAN, (1962 1 All E. R. 442), GILFORD MOTORS CO. LTD v HORNE, (1933 Ch. 935).

Where the Company carried on business for more than six month after Membership reduction.

Where the number of directors fall below two - Section 246 (3) CAMA. Where a Subsidiary Company is being used for Illegal or Improper Purpose - Section 338 of CAMA. Where the Business of a Company has been Operated Recklessly - Section 506 of the Act. Where a Company was formed for Illegal purpose - MERHANDISE TRANSPORT LTD. v BRITISH TRANSPORT COMMISSION, (1962) 2QB 173.

Where a Company Shares are held upon Trusts - LITTLEWOODS STORES v I.R.C, ((1969) 1 WLR 124).

Where a Company is Formed to Evade Tax - MARINA NOMINES v BOARD OF INLAND REVENUE, ((1986) 2 NWLR 48).

Where it is in the Public Interest to lift the Veil - DAILMER CO. LTD v CONTINENTAL TYRE & RUBBER CO. (Great Britain) Ltd, ((1916) 2A. C. 307).

There are a few other circumstances where the veil of a company can be lifted, but neither the Tribunal nor the prosecution averted their minds to these, giving the Saraki defence team a leeway to move for acquittal.

It is safe to conclude therefore that Saraki not being the real owner of those properties named in the charge is being wrongly tried, or is being tried under the wrong charges.

Conclusion A Charge is Bad for Duplicity In OKEKE vs. POLICE, the court held that a charge is bad for duplicity except for Statutory Precedents/Forms, Offences of General Deficiency of Money; Not Goods, Identical offences committed in a single transaction (See COP v OYEWUSI) , ) and Overt Acts of Treason and Treasonable Felony (OMISADE v R.) charges 2-8 in the Saraki case were obviously duplicated.

Finally, the Supreme Court held in 2013 in AKINOLA OLATUNBOSUN v THE STATE that a charge which is bad for duplicity should lead to an acquittal citing its earlier decisions In ALHAJI MUJAHID DOKUBO-ASARI v FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (2007) 56 SC 150; and AMINU MOHAMMED v STATE (2007) 7 NWLR (part 1032) 152.’ It is based on this argument that the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki may end in an acquittal.

8/COVER

29.03.2016

Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips PHOTOS: Sunday Adigun

‘The Judiciary Must Develop the Moral Courage to Deal Ruthlessly with Corruption’ Presiding over Nigeria’s most innovative, progressive and reform oriented judiciary is no easy task. Doing it with candour and retiring with accolades is very impressive. The immediate past Chief Judge, Lagos State, Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips reminisced about her time in active service on the Bench, shared her thoughts on judicial corruption and what reforms need to be carried out urgently to ensure the Judiciary gets back to its pride of place in the society. She expressed her views on these and many other issues in this discourse with May Agbamuche-Mbu, Jude Igbanoi and Tobi Soniyi.

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agos state Judiciary is rated as the most innovative in the country, in your opinion what are the foremost achievements of the Lagos State Judiciary?

It is now a matter of common knowledge that Lagos State is the commercial nerve centre of this country apart from being the Centre of Excellence. It is Nigeria’s melting pot and the most representative of the different tribes in the country. It is what London is to the United Kingdom and New York is to the United States of America.

With a population in excess of 20 Million and the daily influx of fresh settlers in search of a better life there is undoubtedly the need for creativity and innovation dealing with the daily challenges faced by the State. In

effect, Lagos State Judiciary emerging as the most innovative is a product of expediency or necessity for to be otherwise is to grind the machineries of justice to a halt. We cannot use yesterday’s answers to address the challenges of today or tomorrow. The impressive changes which the Lagos State Judiciary has brought about include the total overhaul of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules in 2004 which introduced a number of bold and far reaching initiatives into the administration of justice like the front loading of processes, the introduction of Fast Track Courts to expedite the resolution of commercial disputes. The establishment of The Lagos Multi Door Courthouse in collaboration with the NCMG International, the organisation that conceptualised and brought the project to fruition in Lagos State and other Judiciaries in Nigeria in 2002 and more recently the introduction of Bail Information System

(BIMS) –To curtail the abuse of the bail system by unscrupulous professional sureties and of course the introduction of Judicial Information System (JIS) which allows for the online filing and assignment of cases. There have also been other initiatives like the recent inauguration of 5 mobile courts to prosecute traffic offenders by the Lagos State Government in conjunction with the Lagos State Judiciary.

You have had a long reputable career at the Bench, serving for 20 venerable years in the Superior Courts of Nigeria, and rising to the esteemed position of Chief Judge. Your experience places you in a unique position to comment on the state of the Nigerian Judiciary today. What is your assessment of the performance of the Judiciary since the advent of Democratic Government in 1999?

The mood of the Nigerian society at the end

of the military dictatorship was understandably ecstatic. This enthusiasm was based on the premise that democracy offers opportunities, liberty and freedom unimaginable in a dictatorship. Citizens hoped that democracy would readily translate into respect for rights and liberty protected by the 1999 Constitution.

They hoped they would be able to seek justice unburdened by the restraints and limitations imposed by military dictators. The right to a fair trial is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of constitutional democracy and has been recognised as a universal human right. It is central to a nation’s search for social equilibrium and justice because all of the rights guaranteed by a Constitution mean nothing if citizens do not have the right to a fair trial. Without securing the right to a fair trial, citizens might resort to extra legal means to secure their interests and protect their rights. Moreover, economic

29.03.2016 "RECENTLY THESE PROVISIONS RECEIVED JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT FROM THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT, YET THE STATE GOVERNORS ARE YET TO OBEY THE ORDERS OF COURT, WHICH ARE STILL VALID AND SUBSISTING, AS THEY HAVE NOT BEEN SET ASIDE BY ANY APPEAL COURT TO DATE" growth and social development will be impeded if foreign and local investors lack confidence in the ability of the legal process to fairly and impartially resolve disputes speedily.

The Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as altered and amended) and other laws contain substantive and procedural safeguards designed to assure a fair trial. These safeguards cover all stages of judicial proceedings, from Pre-Trial Conferences through to appeals. Some of the Pre-Trial safeguards include prohibitions against arbitrary arrest, the right to be brought before a Judge within a reasonable time and a prohibition against ex post facto laws.

The safeguards applicable during trials include the presumption of innocence, the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt, protection against self-incrimination, the right to counsel, the right to a public trial before an impartial and independent court and the suppression of illegally obtained evidence. Post-trial safeguards grant an aggrieved party the right of appeal to a higher court and protection against double jeopardy. Despite these lofty safeguards, the path to justice is strewn with social, cultural and institutional problems that make it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for citizens to realise the ideals of a fair trial. In Nigeria, the troubling legacies of military rule, especially corruption, executive control and manipulation of the Judiciary continue to undermine the ability of courts to effectively secure fair trial rights.

These legacies create three major obstacles to a fair trial in Nigeria; the menace of justice, corruption and continued dependence of the system on Government for funding.

Eradicating corruption completely may be a Herculean task but could be achieved if a legal system that adheres to high standards of independence, impartiality, integrity and accountability is put in place. It is the duty of the Judiciary to direct society to the attainment of truth and justice but that path to justice and truth is strewn with the hydra-headed problems of corruption and the interference by the Government of the day in the judicial system of the country which continue to impugn the reputation of the Judiciary and the ability of the courts to effectively secure truth and justice. The fact that it has not been truly independent of the executive arm of Government has also not helped matters at all whereas the Legislature is.

The attitude of Politicians who pay lip service to the independence of the Judiciary so that it cannot play its constitutional role effectively is another obstacle to the attainment of truth and justice in Nigeria. Section 17(2) (e) of the 1999 Constitution provides that the independence, impartiality and integrity of the courts of law and easy accessibility thereto shall be secured and maintained while section 121(3) provides that— “Any amount standing to the credit of the Judiciary in the consolidated revenue fund of the State shall be paid directly to the heads of courts concerned.”

Recently these provisions received judicial pronouncement from the Federal High Court, yet the State Governors are yet to obey the orders of court, which are still valid and subsisting, as they have not been set aside by any appeal Court to date. This has resulted in a nationwide strike action in the Judiciary which is very worrisome indeed.

Nigeria’s Judiciary has not attained the independence required to enable it achieve justice and truth without inhibitions. It is still seen as an appendage to or tied to the apron strings of the Executive. The manner of appointment of Judges and Magistrates as well as the absence of financial autonomy in the true sense of it have raised the recurring question as to whether the independence of

COVER/9 the Judiciary is a myth or reality, and whether the constitutional provisions which guarantee the independence of the Judiciary are no more than slogans in Nigeria. These problems have made it difficult, if not almost impossible, for citizens to realise the constitutional guarantee of justice, which the Judiciary ought to protect.

With the reverent nature of the Judiciary, the fact that sitting Judges cannot openly comment on the nature of their work or direct attention to the problems that besiege the Judiciary, from your many years serving on the Bench, what are the 5 major obstacles of the Judiciary in the dispensation of Justice in Nigeria?

Corruption which is in all facets of our society and in our daily lives is a major obstacle to the attainment of justice and truth in any given legal system. As hydra-headed as the corruption malaise may be, with an independent and incorruptible Judiciary, justice and truth can still be achieved. In the Nigerian legal system, the menace of corruption has engulfed our governance to a large extent. The legal system of this nation can be propelled to ultimately achieve justice and truth when things that can make the system function optimally are put in place. Sustained judicial reforms as is on-going presently in Ghana and the weeding of corrupt Judges and magistrates from the courts will pave the way to the attainment of justice and truth.

Our legal system can be a veritable tool for human and societal development. This can only be made possible when we take a leap to promote truth, justice and change institutional behaviour. In effect, the major obstacles of the judiciary in the dispensation of justice to my mind are: Corruption, absence of judicial independence, quality of judicial appointments, lack of efficiency and effectiveness of judicial infrastructure and delay in the dispensation of justice Regarding the reform of the Judiciary Vice President Osinbajo has said “There is no question at all that we need to reform…

No one is in doubt that a nation can do little if the Judiciary is not functioning.

Our legal system has not been reformed at the national and state levels but more importantly at the national level.” With the nationwide acknowledgement that the Judiciary needs to be reformed, what do you believe a successful reform of the Judiciary will involve?

There is hardly any doubt that the administration of justice in Nigeria craves for serious reform in order to cope with the challenges dictated by 21st Century changes and developments; the advent of the internet, the mobile phone, increase in terrorist acts, blue collar crimes and other crimes hitherto unimagined like the senseless and brutal kidnapping and or killing of fellow human beings have now placed a very heavy burden on the judicial system. The judicial system, which is the last hope of the common man, is groaning

under the weight of a heavy caseload and myriads of internal problems. The criminal justice system has endured prolonged delay in the administration of justice, congestion of courts, grossly inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to justice by the poor, a majority of who cannot afford the services of lawyers, the congestion of prisons caused by the daily influx of convicted persons or suspects awaiting trial, the persistent issue of the holding charge, arrest of suspects’ relatives in place of suspects, the use of torture by the Police to extort extra judicial confessions and the often unfounded allegations of corruption against Judicial Officers. In addition, many of our laws are outdated and in dire need of being drafted to be in tune with modern trends. Some of them are nothing but mere relics of our colonial past that ought to have been repealed a long time ago.

Efficient and speedy justice delivery is central to the nation’s economic growth and development, and the socio-economic wellbeing of its citizens. It is not an overstatement to say that our budding democracy depends heavily on the just resolution of our individual and collective differences through an efficient and robust judicial system. The incontrovertible assumption behind legal and judicial reform is that it concerns all classes of citizens, the rich and the poor, the high and low alike; all and sundry must be guaranteed access to a court system for settlement of disputes quickly and fairly and above all nobody should be above the law as the law is no respecter of persons.

The law is the mechanism for reducing the level of grievances in a society. Unless there is confidence in the system itself, both in its rules and the officials that apply them, anxiety and bitterness will ensue. Justice in any society must assure the weak of the possibility of winning against the strong, even against the state itself.

Judicial reform requires both cultural and systematic change in the delivery of justice.

Such a program should include repealing/ amendment of antiquated laws, enactment of modern laws to meet the needs of ever changing socio-economic conditions, court modernisa-

"IN ADDITION, CERTAIN OFFENCES LIKE CORRUPTION, TERRORISM, RAPE, KIDNAPPING, ELECTION FRAUD, ETC., SHOULD BE DESIGNATED AS SERIOUS CRIMES AND SHOULD ATTRACT SEVERE PUNISHMENT WITHOUT AN OPTION OF FINE"

tion and restructuring, the introduction of an automated court system that allows for video conferencing etc, legal reforms and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, training and retraining of Judges, court personnel, and Lawyers, students and civil society and of course improved access to justice.

The starting point for these programmes should be a clear plan that focuses on activities that have a high probability of success and that provide immediate benefits.

The success of an effective justice system is measured not only by the number of cases that it manages to dispose of periodically, but also and more specifically by the amount of litigation which is avoided because the rights and obligations of parties are ascertainable in advance. Where the justice system is reasonably effective and coherent, parties are able to ascertain the extent of their rights and obligations without systematic reference to the courts. In the context of judicial reform programs, the measures, which need to be taken to reduce the duration of the litigation process, are those relating to avoidable sources of delay, which tend to slow down and even halt proceedings unnecessarily.

Although justice is most of the time, a matter of finding the appropriate rules for settling disputes, resolving grievances and trying the accused persons with basic fairness, no justice system can be worthy of that name unless it provides for Judges and other officers of the Court who are independent of the state which appoints them and operate without any pressure to decide cases in favour of Government.

In addition, certain offences like corruption, terrorism, rape, kidnapping, election fraud, etc., should be designated as serious crimes and should attract severe punishment without an option of fine. Desperate times call for desperate solutions. There should also be a time limit of a no more than a twelve-month period for the trial of any criminal action to ensure a speedy dispensation of justice. In cases where the accused does not have counsel when a matter is called, the State should immediately appoint a counsel to represent him/her before the adjourned date. It is further suggested that various tactics employed by parties and their Counsel to delay judicial proceedings and undermine the justice system should be sternly deprecated. Judges and Magistrates alike will now have to be proactive as it is time that we in the Judiciary began to think outside the box. n the final analysis, no combat against crime, corruption and other social vices plaguing this country can ever be credible or complete unless there is in place an independent, effective, and robust judicial system to rely on. A properly administered judicial system capable of guaranteeing individual rights and freedom, protecting victims from the arbitrary exercise of power, and punishing criminal offenders no matter their position in society is an essential catalyst for good governance and the uplifting of the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigeria and her citizens.

It is well known that the US Supreme Court has a remarkable 9 Justices of the Supreme Court. In fact the US is currently occupied with deciding who ought to take the place of one of those Justices- Antonin Scalia who passed away on the 13th of February. Iconically these Justices (or more accurately eight Associate Justices and one Chief Justice) are categorised for having either conservative, moderate of liberal philosophies of law, also taken into account is the representation of gender and ethnicity in the national population when Supreme Court appointees are considered.

Of course Nigeria is markedly different culturally and in terms of ethnic diversity but is there any value in such considerations for our own Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States. Its membership consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices. The justices are nominated by the President of the United States and appointed after confirmation by the United States’ Senate. Justices of the Supreme Court have life tenure.

While the Justices do not represent or receive official endorsements from political parties, as is accepted practice in the Legislative and Executive branches, jurists are informally categorised in legal and political circles as being judicial conservatives, moderates, or liberals.

Such leanings, however, generally refer to legal outlook rather than a political one.

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'THE JUDICIARY MUST DEVELOP THE MORAL COURAGE TO DEAL RUTHLESSLY WITH CORRUPTION' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Following the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016, the U. S. Supreme Court consists of four justices appointed by Republican Presidents and four appointed by Democratic Presidents. It is popularly accepted that Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas and Alito (appointed by Republican presidents) comprise the Court's conservative wing. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan (appointed by Democratic Presidents) comprise the Court's liberal wing. Justice Kennedy (appointed by President Reagan) is generally considered a conservative who has occasionally voted with liberals and up until Justice Scalia's death, was often the swing vote that determined the outcome of cases divided between the conservative and liberal wings.

Tom Goldstein argued in a 2010 article that the popular view of the Supreme Court is sharply divided along ideological lines with each side pushing an agenda at every turn is "in significant part a caricature designed to fit certain preconceptions." He pointed out that in the 2009 term, almost half the cases were decided unanimously, and only about 20% were decided by a 5-to-4 vote. Barely one in ten cases involved the narrow liberal/ conservative divide (fewer if the cases where Sotomayor recused herself are not included).

He also pointed to several cases that defied the popular conception of the ideological lines of the Court. Goldstein further argued that the large number of pro-criminal-defendant summary dismissals (usually cases where the justices decide that the lower courts significantly misapplied precedent and reverse the case without briefing or argument) were an illustration that the conservative Justices had not been aggressively ideological. Likewise, Goldstein stated that the critique that the liberal Justices are more likely to invalidate acts of Congress, show inadequate deference to the political process, and be disrespectful of precedent, also lacked merit: Thomas has most often called for overruling prior precedent (even if long standing) that he views as having been wrongly decided, and during the 2009 term Scalia and Thomas voted most often to invalidate legislation.

In summary, US Supreme Court Justices have generally demonstrated judicial independence in their opinions and orientation. Remember that without the vote of Chief Justice Roberts (who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush), there will be no Obamacare.

President Obama has recently nominated a replacement for Justice Scalia and we will see how that pans out I am sure very soon. The Supreme Court of the United States has been around a lot longer than its Nigerian counterpart.

This longevity has afforded it the luxury of undergoing a renaissance which has enabled it weather the storm while remaining focused on increasing transparency, enhancing access to justice and increasing public confidence.

That said, there is the urgent need to effect the necessary amendments with regards to appeals in Nigeria for the present situation where over a thousand cases are heard by the Nigerian Supreme Court in a year is not only sad, it is pathetic, backward, unrealistic and unnecessary. Regrettably, to effect the change required to bring about anything similar to what pertains in the United States would require some far reaching constitutional amendments. Having said that the leadership, which the present Chief Justice of Nigeria has demonstrated in the justice sector reform so far is most commendable, and the intended introduction of the Supreme Court Mediation Centre as a start is a wonderful breath of fresh air as it shows that indeed the Judiciary is now beginning to think outside the box and I am very pleased about this development.

I hope the other Appellate Courts will also follow suit.

Part of the reason the US Supreme Court is able to maintain just nine Justices and successfully operate as the apex Court of a nation with over 318 million people is that Litigants do not share the generous right of appeal they do in Nigeria. Matters that

rise to the Supreme Court in the US are matters pertaining to Federal Law, or are of national or constitutional significance. The Supreme Court Justices choose 80 cases they will hear every year, and another 50 they adjudicate on without hearing arguments.

By comparison our Supreme Court heard 1500 cases in 2014-2015 legal year and another 300 appeals. Do we need to limit the right of appeal to the Supreme Court?

I believe I have already addressed this issue while answering the 4th question. I will state further however that this is most unnecessary and calls for urgent attention by the legislature and the judicial community as a whole. I am of the view that it is time that the whole hierarchy of the Court system in this country should be evaluated and reformed to allow for the establishment of Courts of Appeal at the State level, as it should be in a true Federal System.

Not only the Supreme Court but also the Court of Appeal is seriously overburdened with a humongous caseload in some regions which needs to be addressed with despatch.

I believe that the right of appeal to the Supreme Court should be limited a great deal and the lower courts be given the power to decide which matters should proceed on appeal like it pertains in the United Kingdom.

There have been several calls for judicial reforms including safeguarding the financial autonomy of the Judiciary. Could you suggest practical ways to secure the financial autonomy of the Judiciary?

The need to uphold the financial autonomy of the Judiciary cannot be overemphasised.

The involvement of both the Federal and State Governments in the disbursement of funds to the Judiciary clearly indicates the extent to which the independence of the Judiciary has been violated. I even read in the newspapers recently that the Budget for the Judiciary has been cut extensively by the Legislature, which should not be the case at all, in fact it is insulting. This actually plays out more at the State level where Governors in regard to the Capital Expenditure of the Judiciary ignore the above Constitutional provisions.

Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, former President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on February 1, 2013 took the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the National Assembly to court stating that the manner by which the budget of the Judiciary was being appropriated was contrary to the principle of separation of powers and the provisions of section 81 (2) and Section 84 (1), (2), (3), (4), and7 of the 1999 Constitution.

He also prayed the Court that— “The continued dependence of the Judiciary on the Executive represented by the 1st Defendant for its budgeting and funds release is directly responsible for the present state of underfunding of the Judiciary”.

In its Judgment the Court declared unconstitutional the practice of sending the annual budget estimates of the Judiciary to the Budget Office of the Executive arm of Government or any other authority. The Court also ordered that henceforth the National Judicial Council (NJC) should prepare the budget of the Judiciary and it should no longer be part of the estimates to be included in the Appropriation Bill as proposed expenditures by the President, as is the present practice.

The court also identified other effects of the dependency of the Judiciary on the Executive as “poor and inadequate judicial infrastructure, low morale among judicial personnel, alleged corruption in the Judiciary, delays in the administration of justice and judicial services delivery and general low quality and poor out-put by the Judiciary.”

This Judgment has charted the new path the Judiciary in Nigeria is expected to follow.

The onus now lies upon the Executive and the Legislative arms of Government to respect the Court’s Order and hands off the funds of the Judiciary. This is however yet to happen in spite of the fact that this Judgment is yet to be appealed against.

The court has therefore upheld the consti-

"I AM OF THE VIEW THAT IT IS TIME THAT THE WHOLE HIERARCHY OF THE COURT SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE EVALUATED AND REFORMED TO ALLOW FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS OF APPEAL AT THE STATE LEVEL, AS IT SHOULD BE IN A TRUE FEDERAL SYSTEM"

tutionality of the financial autonomy of the Judiciary and the only feasible and practical way of securing the financial autonomy of the Judiciary is for the Executive and Legislative arms of Government to obey the letter of the law and operate within the realm of the Constitution, which they have sworn under oath to uphold. Once this is done it is now up to the Judiciary to put measures in place to accommodate the new system by employing proper and qualified support staff to handle its proper role. This is necessary to ensure the proper management of Government funds and avoid any embarrassment or allegations of mis-management or mis-appropriation.

Prison congestion and the treatment of awaiting trial inmates are a major indictment to our criminal justice system.

During your tenure as Chief Judge you introduced several reforms including a system for bondsmen and recovery of recognisance system. What further steps can you suggest for the improvement of the criminal justice delivery system in Lagos state?

The most pervasive myth distorting our view of criminal justice is that increasing arrests and imprisonment is an effective strategy for reducing crime. Our present methods of dealing with criminals have not made society safer and crime-free, rather they have made the problems worse. There is a lot we can do to reverse this trend including: a) Paying attention to and speaking out about injustice whenever it is seen: The criminal justice system is desperately in need of reform. But reform will only occur when people speak with unified conviction about a more just and equitable system that focuses more on public safety. When people in large numbers speak out for justice, policymakers will have no choice but to respond. b) Compensation to the exonerated: I cannot imagine anything worse than a person being wrongly convicted for a crime they did not commit. When the criminal justice system makes a grievous mistake by sending an innocent person to prison, the state has a moral and ethical responsibility to make amends by providing adequate financial support, counselling, educational and job training, and housing. c) Hold prosecutors and the Police responsible for deliberate misconduct: Police and Prosecutors who deliberately engage in misconduct are rarely held liable for their actions. I am talking about serious misconduct that lands innocent people in jail, such as hiding or destroying evidence that could clear the accused of charges, or fabricating evidence to make a Defendant appear guilty, or relying on testimony that is known to be false, or obtaining and then using coerced confessions.

These need to change and fast. A policy of liability for deliberate misconduct could make those state actors think twice before they play fast and loose with people's lives. d) Champion the passage of laws that reduce overly harsh sentences: People are serving heavy sentences for non-violent offenses or

for certain felonies under habitual offender laws. These sentences are unnecessary and are overly punitive. They often fall on the backs of the poor. e) Develop alternatives to arrest and incarceration programs: Too many people who should not be there wind up in the criminal justice system. Some people are arrested who should not be and once an arrest is made, a cycle of incarceration begins that is often tilted against the poor. f) Support and develop initiatives that offer alternatives to the justice system, such as after school programs, mental health centres, and drug treatment options, probation etc. These programs require funding and are costly in the short term. But a healthier community is better -and safer in the long run. g) Reduce violence in prisons by improving prison accountability and leadership: People are sent to prison because they were convicted of a crime. Their punishment is the prison sentence itself. However, thousands of prisoners including those who are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes become the victims of sexual assault and other violent attacks while serving prison sentences. When their sentence is over, they return to society more damaged, traumatised and maladjusted than when they entered in the first place. If you want to reduce high rates of recidivism, then make prisons safer and hold administrators accountable for the devastating violence that occurs under their watch. h) Removal of the building of Prisons from the Exclusive Legislative list and its inclusion in the Concurrent List to allow State Governments who can afford it to build Prisons. There are not enough Prisons in this Country to accommodate offenders here not to talk about those serving terms of imprisonment abroad who are awaiting repatriation to Nigeria to serve out the balance of their respective terms of imprisonment.

Recently, Buhari has described Judges as his “main headache” in the fight against corruption. Could you enlighten us on the ways the Judiciary can facilitate the current’s administration fight against corruption?

There is no doubt that corruption is the biggest and most embarrassing challenge facing Nigeria today. It is indeed a serious threat to our economic and democratic development.

The Judiciary is central to democracy. As the third arm of Government, it acts as a check on the Executive and the Legislature. But due to the fact that it is not being allowed to play its proper role as envisaged in the Constitution of our land the Judiciary is not living up to public expectation. Its integrity is being questioned and we are just being made the whipping boy.

Give a dog a bad name and hang it. I agree that some of us have been found wanting of late but this notwithstanding Corruption is an insidious plague that leads to the subversion of justice. For this reason I am of the view that the Judiciary should be left alone to purge itself of unworthy Officers and should not be exposed to the outside interference of organs created

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'THE JUDICIARY MUST DEVELOP THE MORAL COURAGE TO DEAL RUTHLESSLY WITH CORRUPTION' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 by the Executive arm of Government. Already the Judiciary has shown that it is capable of doing this on its own without any outside interference thereby enhancing integrity and accountability. The Judiciary must be ruthless in dealing with corruption within it, as that is the only way it can develop the moral courage to deal with graft in the society. In order for the Judiciary to help facilitate and support the current administration’s fight against corruption, it has to change itself. Change is possible with fundamental reforms, which must begin from within.

I will recommend the following constructive engagements on the part of the Judiciary in facilitating the fight against corruption: i) Independence: For the Judiciary to play its role in the fight against corruption it must be independent and free from any form of interference or influence in terms of funding, political manipulation etc. This will enable Judges to determine cases freely and competently on the basis of facts presented before them and nothing more. ii) The Courts must ensure that cases bordering on corruption are dealt with expeditiously to instil public confidence in the fight against corruption. To this end, the court must ensure that recourse to unnecessary technicalities are avoided or rejected out rightly. iii) Incorruptibility of the Bench: A corrupt bench can only worsen the fight against corruption. For the Judiciary to position itself properly against the fight against corruption, it must first purge itself of corruption. It will be a very sad day indeed for the court, which is seen as the bastion of hope of the common man to stand as an “accused” in the fight against corruption. This indeed will signify the end of everything. The Judiciary should therefore continue to display zero tolerance for any form of corruption within its ranks. iv) The prosecuting agencies must provide proper training for prosecutors of corruption cases. v) The courts must be properly equipped with modern facilities to be able to fast-track the determination of corruption and other related cases and indeed understand the modus operandi of persons accused of cases of corruption. The Magistrates, Judges and staff must also be properly and adequately remunerated to avoid any form of temptation and be better motivated to do that which is right and proper in all cases that come before them.

They should also be trained and re-trained to be disciplined and committed to duty.

The mobile courts for traffic offenders inaugurated this year to summarily try traffic offences is a clear sign that the Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Lagos State Mr. Adeniji Kazeem is seeking innovative ways to decongest the court and facilitate justice delivery.

What is your assessment of this novel introduction?

I applaud the Hon. Commissioner/Attorney General Adeniji Kazeem for this novel and timely initiative. The mobile court platform is an effective medium for policing traffic infractions in real time while enhancing the safety of our residents on the roads of Lagos.

It is about time some measure of discipline and law and order is introduced on our roads here in Lagos State where Drivers just do what they like with no respect for other road users.

This is a relatively new program and so far, it is performing above expectation.

The Lagos state Government has created several avenues to encourage the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, including introducing the Lagos Multi-door Courthouse and the Lagos Court of Arbitration. How can the Judiciary promote the use of ADR in the Lagos State?

In June 2002, through a multi-stakeholder engagement, which includes local communities, the Judiciary and corporate organisations, NCMG International established The Lagos Multi Door Courthouse as the first court connected ADR Centre in Africa. NCMG International has also been engaged as the primary consultant for the establishment of the Supreme Court Mediation Centre in Abuja. The Supreme Court Mediation Centre in alignment with international best practices seeks to reduce the length of dispute resolution in the country while creating confidence in a vibrant, effective and proactive Judiciary within the local and international communities. I am also aware that the NCMG International did champion the inclusion of Order 19 into the Court of Appeal Rules, which introduced the Court of Appeal Mediation Program. However, I am aware that the facility is yet to be properly established by the Court of Appeal.

Already in Lagos State ADR is already part of our judicial system because under the 2012 Rules all cases are screened when filed and

"MY MOST DEFINING MOMENT WAS WATCHING BOTH MOTHER AND CHILD BE RECONCILED PURSUANT TO MY DECISION IN THE MIRACLE BABY CASE. THAT MADE ME BE QUITE EMOTIONAL AND I TRIED NOT TO BE EMOTIONAL ABOUT ANY OF MY CASES"

separated into those that are sent to the ADR Track and the normal litigation track. The cases that are screened to go to the normal ADR Track then go before ADR Judges who oversee the Mediation process with a view to the amicable settlement of these matters.

These classes of cases are usually matters involving Landlord and Tenant, simple debts and some family disputes. We also have an annual Settlement Week where these classes of cases that are in the normal track are sent to the Multi Door Courthouse for settlement as a means of decreasing the number of cases in the dockets of the courts.

ADR is more effective with willing participants. With limited public knowledge and understanding of ADR, most disputants are unable to make an informed judgement about the cost and benefits of ADR. The Judiciary can play a pivotal role in the education of the public, as mandatory referral to ADR would provide an opportunity for participants to explore the potentialities of ADR. I must take this opportunity to applaud the Lagos State Judiciary and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Mahmud Mohammed, GCON who has mandated all other State judiciaries that do not currently have a multi-door courthouse to immediately introduce one while the existing ones be immediately strengthened. The Chief Justice of Nigeria can be likened to Lord Woolf of the United Kingdom, who championed the British Access to Justice reform.

There have been debates about the retirement age of Judges, there are arguments for High Court Judges to retire at 65 and for Appeal and Supreme Court Justices to retire at 70. What is your view on the current retirement age of Judges?

I think we need to have the same retirement age for High Court and appellate Judges. I suggest that the age of retirement age of Judges at all levels should be 70 to make room for younger judges to take over with fresh and more modern thinking.

Recently, the mode of appointing Judges was modified and new criteria introduced.

It has been regarded in some quarters as violating the provisions of the constitution.

What is your view on the new rules for appointing Judges?

If the Judiciary were to align itself to the ever-changing needs and demands of the public, it must ensure that the criteria for appointing Judges reflect current realities.

The NJC which is the body created by the 1999 Constitution is empowered to do this has constantly evolved guidelines for the State Judicial Service Commissions on the appointment of Judges to the High Court Bench. My view however is that more emphasis should be placed on the experience and exposure of the candidates than any other consideration.

As a Judge who served on the bench for

many years what will you say was your most defining moment?

My most defining moment was watching both mother and child reconciled pursuant to my decision in the Miracle Baby Case. That made me quite emotional and I tried not to be emotional about any of my cases. It is at that point that I experienced an epiphany moment and realised that this is what I really wanted to do with my life. It dawned on me that I had chosen the right career path, which was most fulfilling. I had always wanted to be able to contribute positively to society in some manner and since I was in the legal profession doing justice and championing that, which is right, was what drew me into wanting to become a Judge so much. I believe that to be able to do justice one should basically have an innate sense of justice to know what is right or wrong. Once you have this the rest is easy it is only when one hearkens to outside interference that the job becomes very difficult.

What significant role will you say women have played in the country’s judicial system?

In the Lagos State Judiciary well over 2/3 of the Judges are female and we have held our own very well in the judicial system. The output of the Judges has increased and there is more respect for the High Court Bench. I agree with the saying that whatever a man can do, a woman can do 10 times better and we have proved our mettle in Lagos State. In short we have held our own, as there has been no established case of corruption against any of the Judges. The women have proved that we are more than capable of dispensing justice.

I should also add that the female Judges in Nigeria belong to an Association called the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJN) where we along with other women in the legal profession organise various programmes for Women and the girl child to ensure that they obtain justice whenever and wherever within Nigeria it is needed. Our latest project is the GLOW PROJECT, which is the Global Leadership Of Women Project. This Association is affiliated to the IAWJ (International Association of Women Judges) based in the USA and through various Workshops held both here and in several other countries we seek to stop the abuse of power against women through sextortion and related offences. Being that most of us are mothers and are naturally gifted with nurturing qualities and abilities we have managed in our own way to restore confidence in the judicial system.

Since retiring in June 2014 you have been extremely busy, delivering papers at seminars amongst a host of other things, what may we ask have you been doing that has occupied your day-to-day life?

I must confess that before I retired I was a bit worried as to what I would do with my ever-busy self once I no longer had a regular job to go to every morning to occupy my day. After the initial rest of 6 months I gave myself where I did absolutely nothing but eat, sleep and travel I set up a Consultancy, which provides legal advice, Mediation and Arbitration Services. Before I left office I began to look into Arbitration and ADR as a means to augment my meagre pension which has paid off somewhat as I now have a few arbitration matters that I am handling and this keeps me busy. I have also become a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and I am now trying to psych myself into taking the Fellowship examination.

I am also the country chair of the NCMG INTERNATIONAL that I have already spoken about earlier and a member of the Board of Trustees of the ASSOCIATIONS OF MULTI DOOR COURTHOUSES IN NIGERIA. I am a member of the Board of the LAGOS COURT OF ARBITRATION and the Chairman of 2 other Boards. So in between attending board meetings and my Consultancy I find that I am now quite busy but the beauty is that I am no longer tied down to any schedule and I work at my own pace. I have also been called upon from time to time to sit on panels to discuss topical issues and I occasionally deliver keynote addresses at functions.

I still however still find time to see my grandchildren and spend time with them although I hear that they are complaining that Grandma is not behaving as if she has retired.

I have also started learning how to play the piano, which I must say I am finding quite tasking, as my fingers are quite stiff. But its fun though I must admit. So all in all I find that I am having a good time in retirement as I always say that ‘rest is sweet after labour. ‘

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29.03.2016

Re: Matters Arising from the Supreme Court Judgment in the Saraki Case by Professor Ben Nwabueze - I Beg to Differ Olalekan Festus Ojo

I

have carefully read Professor Ben Nwabueze’s article published in different volumes in various National Dailies, and I must respectfully say that I disagree, on points of law, with a few issues raised in the said article. Needless to say that Professor Nwabueze is a scion of Nigerian Constitutional Law, a bastion and colossus of Nigerian jurisprudence.

I shall address the issues seriatim.

Whether the Supreme Court decision on the issue of the jurisdiction of the CCT is consistent with the constitution I shall submit, contrary to the highly respectful submission of Professor Nwabueze, that the Supreme Court decision on the issue of the jurisdiction of the CCT is consistent with the letters and spirit of the Constitution.

Section 1 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) provides as follows: “If any other Law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other Law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.”

The Apex Court, per Onnoghen JSC, while delivering the lead judgment held, inter alia, as follows: “Paragraph 18 of the 5th schedule to the 1999 Constitution as amended is replete with unambiguous terms and expressions indicating that the proceedings before the said Code of Conduct Tribunal are criminal in nature” that “the said tribunal has a quasi-criminal jurisdiction designed by the 1999 Constitution”, and that “it is a peculiar tribunal crafted by the Constitution”.

I shall argue that the Supreme Court was right in holding that the Constitution invests the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) with a quasi-criminal jurisdiction. My reasons are not far-fetched. Paragraph 18(1) (2) and (3) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution provides as follows: “(1) Where the Code of Conduct Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravention of any of the provisions of this Code it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph and such other punishment as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

(2) The punishment which the Code of Conduct Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following— (a)vacation of office or seat in any legislative house, as the case may be; (b)disqualification from membership of a legislative house and from the holding of any public office for a period not exceeding ten years; and (c)seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.

(3) The sanctions mentioned in subparagraph (2) hereof shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence.”

(Underlining mine for emphasis) The above provision clearly shows that the code is prohibitory in nature with the terms including “guilty”, “punishment”, “shall impose” et al. These prohibitory terms are not ‘simply a body of rules designed to regulate the civil behavior of public officers’. If it were so, the terms ‘guilty’ and ‘punishment’ would not have been used.

Paragraph 18(3) of the Fifth schedule does not, in any way, suggest that ‘the conduct proscribed by the Code is not… a criminal offence’. What it says is that where there is any law where the conduct is made a criminal offence, the sanctions mentioned in paragraph 18(2) of the Fifth Schedule shall not affect any punishment to be imposed under the law.

Section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution provides as follows: “(12) Subject as otherwise provided by this Constitution, a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty therefore is prescribed in a written law; and in this sub-section, a written law refers to Act of the National Assembly or a Law of a State, any subsidiary legislation or instrument under the provisions of a law.”

(Underlining mine for emphasis) With the greatest respect to Professor Nwabueze, he omitted the above underlined part of the provision of the Constitution and concluded that ‘the Constitution is not included’ as CCT could not have derived ‘any criminal jurisdiction or quasi-criminal jurisdiction’ therefrom. The Constitution was mindful of the provisions contained in paragraph 18 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution that was why the drafters included the phrase ‘subject as otherwise provided by this Constitution’.

Therefore, the Supreme Court’s attribution of a quasi-criminal jurisdiction to the CCT is consistent with the letters and spirit of the Constitution.

Professor Nwabueze also contended that since ‘the CCT is not one of the nine courts listed by name in section 6 (5)… and if it had been the intention that it should share in the vesting of judicial power, the Constitution should have mentioned it by name like the nine courts so named’.

In response, the Code of Conduct Tribunal does not claim to be a court that is why it is called a tribunal and it could not have been listed under Section 6(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). For instance, the mere fact that the Election Petition Tribunals are not listed under Section 6 (5) does not remove from the statutory powers to hear and determine electoral matters by virtue of powers conferred on them by Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). Also, A Court Martial enjoins statutory power to try and impose punishment on persons subject to service law for offences committed while in active service and the fact that it is not included under Section 6 (5) does not derogate from the powers conferred on it by the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation, 2004.

Paragraph 15 (2) and (3) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution provides as follows: “(2) The Chairman shall be a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a judge of a superior court of record in Nigeria and shall receive such remuneration as may be prescribed by law.

(3) The Chairman and members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall be appointed by the President in accordance with the recommendation of the National Judicial Council” By the provision, the Chairman and other members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal enjoin ‘quasi’ judicial powers. Until the Constitution provides otherwise, the CCT shall continue to exercise quasi criminal jurisdiction conferred on it by the Constitution.

While I found the authority of WATERSIDE WORKERS’ FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA v J. W. ALEXANDER LTD (1918) 25 CLR 434 cited by Professor Nwabueze interesting and educating, it is an elementary principle of our judicial precedent that a foreign case is only of persuasive authority no matter how sound or brilliant it may appear. In the instant case, the law is clear and admits no ambiguity.

What is more, the case law of SOFEKUN v AKINYEMI (1981) 1 NCLR 135 can be distinguished from the instant case. In SOFEKUN v AKINYEMI (supra), Dr. O. G. Sofekun was dismissed upon a finding of guilt for indecent assault and attempted rape by a disciplinary tribunal constituted and empowered in that behalf under the

Public Service Commission Regulations. It was clear to the Supreme Court presided over by Fatayi Williams, CJN (of blessed memory) that the disciplinary tribunal was only empowered by Regulations made by a commission but not by the Constitution or any written law. But in Saraki’s case, the CCT is empowered and established by the constitution to try and impose punishment on quasi offences provided for by the Constitution. The offences are clearly defined and the punishments are provided under the Constitution.

Whether the Supreme Court Decision on the Issue of the Jurisdiction of the CCT has a Basis in a Law validly made by the National Assembly I shall answer the second poser in the affirmative that the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue of the CCT has a basis in a law validly made by the National Assembly. This is because the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is manifestly consistent with the letters and spirit of the Constitution.

The Learned Professor argued further that Sections 20 and 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is inconsistent with the provisions of Paragraphs 15 and 18 respectfully of the Fifth Schedule for having the same provisions and therefore void.

With due respect to the Learned Professor, the interpretation proffered by Professor is in itself inconsistent with the spirit behind the clear and unambiguous provision of Section 1 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.

While Section 20 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides as follows: “(1) There is hereby established a tribunal to be known as the Code of Conduct Tribunal (in this Act referred to as ‘the Tribunal’) (2) The Tribunal shall consist of a chairman and two other members.

(3) The chairman shall be a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a Judge of a superior court of record in Nigeria and shall receive such remuneration as may be prescribed by law.

(4) The chairman and other members of the Tribunal shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.

(5) The National Assembly may by law confer on the Tribunal such additional powers as may appear to it to be necessary to enable the Tribunal to discharge more effectively the functions on it under this Act.” Paragraph 15 of the Fifth Schedule makes similar provision as follows: “(1) There shall be established a tribunal to be known as Code of Conduct Tribunal which shall consist of a Chairman and two other persons.

(2) The Chairman shall be a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a judge of a superior court of record in Nigeria and shall receive such remuneration as may be prescribed by law.

(3) The Chairman and members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall be appointed by the President in accordance with the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.

(4) The National Assembly may by law confer on the Code of Conduct Tribunal such additional powers as may appear to it to be necessary to enable it more effectively to discharge the functions conferred on it in this Schedule.”

Furthermore Paragraph 18 of the Fifth Schedule provides as follows: “(1) Where the Code of Conduct Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravention of any of the provisions of this Code it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under the subparagraph of this paragraph and such other punishment as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

(2) The punishment which the Code of Conduct Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following— (a)vacation of office or seat in any legisla-

Professor Ben Nwabueze SAN

tive house, as the case may be; (b)disqualification from membership of a legislative house and from the holding of any public office for a period not exceeding ten years; and (c)seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.

(3) The sanctions mentioned in subparagraph (2) hereof shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence.

(4) Where the Code of Conduct Tribunal gives a decision as to whether or not a person is guilty of a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act, an appeal shall lie as of right from such decisions or from any punishment imposed on such person to the Court of Appeal at the instance of any party to the proceedings.

(5) Any right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal conferred by sub-paragraph (4) hereof shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of an Act of the National Assembly and rules of Court for the time being in force regulating the powers, practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal.

(6) Nothing in this paragraph shall prejudice the prosecution of a public officer punished under this paragraph, or preclude such officer from being prosecuted or punished for an offence in a Court of law.

(7) The provisions of the Constitution relating to prerogative of mercy, shall not apply to any punishment imposed in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.”

Section 23 of the Act, with the concurrence of the above provision of paragraph 18, provides as follows: “(1) Where the Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this Act it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under sub-paragraph (2) of this section.

(2) The punishment which the Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following— (a) vacation of office or any elective or nominated office as the case may be; (b) disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and (c) seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.

(3) The punishments mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) hereof shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the breach of conduct is also a criminal offence under the Criminal Code or any other enactment or law.

(4) Where the Tribunal gives a decision as to whether or not a person is guilty of a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act, an appeal shall lie as of right from such decisions or from any punishment

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

29.03.2016

THE LIGHTER SIDE/13

LEGAL HUMOUR Lost and Found

We Hold Your Brief JUDE IGBANOI jude.igbanoi@thisdaylive.com

Dear Counsel, For the past few weeks I have read several cases of rape and child molestation across Nigeria. One begins to wonder if there are no laws on rape in Nigeria. Please I would very much appreciate if you can throw more light on what constitutes rape in Nigeria and why the authorities are no nonchalant about it.

The NGO I volunteer is really concerned about this and we need adequate information, as many cases of rape are being reported here on a daily basis and a majority of the victims are mostly house helps and domestic servants.

Mrs P.I., Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

Dear Mrs P.I., It is quite sad that rape cases are on the increase in Nigeria. Some have attributed it to a failure in our value system, decadence in the society and a total loss of morals.

However, Rape legally speaking the forcing sexual act by a man on a woman against her will. Sometimes you hear of statutory rape, it when a male has sexual

relations with a female who is under the age of consent.

In such a case, even if she is a voluntary and willing participant in the sexual act, it is still a serious criminal offence.

The attitude of the courts in recent years is that rape exists when a woman forces sexual relations upon a man against his will or, in some instances, when a female has relations with a male who is under the age of consent, even if he is a voluntary and willing participant in the sexual act.

Note that rape also can take place between two people of the same sex, as far as one of the parties does not consent or is underage.

The Ese Oruru case, strictly speaking is not rape.

Rape might be a component, but there are several other offences, including adoption, kidnapping, defilement and forceful conversion to a religion against her will and others.

Hitherto, the age of consent in Nigeria was put at16, but Section 7 of the new Sexual Offences Bill puts the statutory age at 18.

In court on a faithful day a seasoned old litigator had constructed an intricately woven argument against his wily baby-faced opponent. He had been conducting his crossexamination of a Defendant for 3 consecutive days based on thesingularfactthatavitalpieceofdocumentwasmissingfrom the Defendant’s possession, a certain budget for expenses”.The events of the day went thus: Prosecutor Solomon Semu: “…Today again you tell this court that you accounted for the $14,000 in the Supplementary Budget of the company but that is a lie isn’t?!”

Defendant Accountant: No it isn’t! I told you before I always write everything in the supplementary budget!

Prosecutor Solomon Semu: Yes you have told us about this ‘Magical’ budget that does not exist. Where is this budget by the way?

Defendant Accountant: It was in the cabinet office, in cabinet 4 of the Finance folders. I checked there before I went into the MD’s office. Then I was falsely accused and sacked for the missing $14,000. When I was told to leave the office I went there to get it and prove I didn’t take the money but the budget was gone!

Prosecutor Solomon Semu: Yes! Yes! Of course, this missing budget, it disappeared like the nation’s budget didn’t it?! No further Questions my Lord!

COURT ROOM BURSTS INTO LAUGHTER Judge: Any re-examination Mr. Omolope?

Barrister Omolope: Just one my lord. (Turning to the Accountant) Please Mr Owope, look at this document (Handing Accountant a bulky document). Is this the supplementary budget you referred to earlier?

Prosecutor Solomon Semu: What is this?! My Lord this is unacceptable! We were not privy to this document! We object to it vehemently! I refu…

Judge: Mr Semu, were you served with a list of documents to be relied on with this document in it?

Prosecutor Solomon Semu: Yes my lord but…

Judge: No buts, sit down. Mr Omolope please proceed.

Barrister Omolope: Thank you my Lord. (Turning to the Accountant) Is this the budget?

Defendant Accountant: Yes it is! I signed it and the MD counter signed it. How did you get it?

Barrister Omolope: Perhaps the MD can help us with that question- after all the budget has reappeared like the national budget hasn’t it?! No further Questions my Lord!

RE: MATTERS ARISING FROM THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT IN THE SARAKI CASE BY PROFESSOR BEN NWABUEZE - I BEG TO DIFFER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 imposed on such person to the Court of Appeal at the instance of any party to the proceedings.

(5) Any right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from the decision of the Tribunal conferred by subsection (4) of this section shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the rules of Court for the time being in force regulating the powers, practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal.

(6) Nothing in this Section shall prejudice the prosecution of a public officer punished under this section, or preclude such officer from being prosecuted or punished for an offence in a Court of law.

(7) The provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, relating to prerogative of mercy, shall not apply to any punishment imposed in accordance with the provisions of this section.”

For clarity, according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 8th Edition, particularly at page 760, the word ‘inconsistent’ is illustrated, inter alia, as follows: “…if two statements, etc. are inconsistent, or one is inconsistent with the other, they cannot not both be true because they give the facts in a different way…”

From the above illustration, it would be wrong to conclude that Section 20 (1) of the Act is inconsistent with paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution when they have same wordings and meaning. Assuming but not conceding that Section 20(1) is inconsistent with paragraph 15(1), the entire Act cannot be rendered null and void as Section 1(3) include the phrase ‘to the extent of its inconsistency’. It means that only the specific provisions that are inconsistent will be void but not the entire Act. Whether the CCT, even if it can rightly be regarded as a Court of Law which alone under our Constitution can be invested with Criminal or Quasi-criminal Jurisdiction In answering this third issue, I shall adopt my argument under issue 1 in stating that the Supreme Court in Saraki’s case never attributed a Court to CCT. CCT as it stands is a Tribunal with quasi-criminal jurisdiction as it is operating in line with the powers conferred on it by virtue of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, particularly paragraph 18 of the Schedule.

Whether the Initiation of the Criminal Prosecution against Dr Saraki before the CCT by a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice at a time when there was no incumbent Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) is valid and competent in law It was also the respectful submission of Learned Professor

that the initiation of the Criminal Prosecution against Dr. Saraki before the CCT by a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice at a time when there was no incumbent Attorney-General of Federal was invalid and incompetent in law. The Learned Professor heavily placed reliance on the case of A-G KADUNA STATE v HASSAN (1985) 2 NWLR (Pt.8) 483.

In response, the case of AG KADUNA STATE v HASSAN (supra) is a bad law to rely upon in the instant case for the following reasons: • The relevant issue was whether the Solicitor General can validly exercise the power to discontinue criminal proceedings where there was no incumbent Attorney-General and where there has been no delegation of such powers of the Attorney-General to the Solicitor-General pursuant to the provision of Section 191 of the 1979 Constitution (now section 211 of the 1999 Constitution).

• The relevant issue in the instant case is whether a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice could initiate prosecution at a time when there was no incumbent Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

• The Supreme Court was not invited to consider the provision of Section 4 of the Law Officers Act which empowers the Solicitors General of the Federation to perform any of the duties of the AGF in the absence of the AGF as the Act would not have been applicable to the AG of a state since the Act was enacted to apply to the Federation only.

For the purpose of clarity and at the greatest risk of repetition, Section 4 of the Law Officers Act Cap L8 Laws of the Federation 2004 provides as follows: “The Solicitor-General of the Federation in the absence of the Attorney General of the Federation may perform any of the duties and shall have the same powers as are imposed by law on the Attorney-General of the Federation.”

The rationale of the above provision is to ensure that the administration of justice is set in motion in the absence of the AGF to canvass otherwise would be an invitation to anarchy or the Hobbesian State of nature where life is short, nasty, poor and brutish.

Also the proviso to Section 24(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is alive and conscious of the importance of the smooth running of the machinery of justice in the absence of an AGF when it provides that: “Provided that the question whether any authority has been given in pursuance of this subsection shall not inquired into by any person.”

The Supreme Court, per Niki Tobi JSC (as he then was), in A-G., FED.v. ANPP (2003) 18 NWLR (Pt.851) 182 @ 207, paragraphs E-H addressed the issue of vacancy of the office of AGF as follows: “Chief Olanipekun SAN, seriously attacked the Appellant on the ground that at the time he appealed, the office of the Attorney-General was vacant, and that meant that the Attorney-General was ‘dead’ legally. He took so much time to cite authorities particularly on the expression ‘dead’ to buttress the point that it does not mean in the context physical cessation of breath in medical parlance.

Section 150 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 creates the office of Attorney-General of the Federation. Let me read it quickly: ‘There shall be an Attorney-General of the Federation who shall be the Chief Law Officer of the Federation and a Minister of the Government of the Federation.’

It would appear that the Attorney-General is the only Minister specifically created in the Constitution. Section 147 (1) of the Constitution ominously creates the office Minister of the Government of the Federation.

In view of the fact that the office is created in the Constitution and unless or until the office is abrogated, it will continue in perpetuity.”

Section 174(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides as follows: “(2) The powers conferred upon the Attorney-General of the Federation under subsection (1) of this section may be exercised by him in person or through officers of his department” The community reading of the provisions of Section 174 (2) of the Constitution, Section 4 of the Law Officers Act, Proviso to Section 24 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act would reveal that a Solicitor-General, Deputy Director and any other officer in the Federal Ministry of Justice could initiate action at a time when there was no incumbent Attorney-General of Federation.

Conclusion While I commend the Learned Professor for opening the space of discourse on legal issues as this, I must state that outright condemnation of the Supreme Court’s decision would not augur well for the interest of justice having regards to the gravamen of authorities supplied above and the consequent reasoning.

Olalekan Festus Ojo is a lawyer in the law firm of Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers

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29.03.2016

Setting Aside, Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Frank Ike Chude

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he Arbitration and Conciliation Act incorporated into the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, is a major milestone in the quest for the practice of arbitration. It has brought Nigerian practitioners and arbitrators into the league of recognised and acclaimed arbitrators.

Globally, the law on arbitration is becoming uniform, as same is modelled along the lines of the UNCITRAL Model Law. Harmonisation of national laws has helped in the advancement of international arbitration. A Nigerian practitioner or arbitrator or lawyer for any party in countries such as Canada or Australia or Romania where the model law has been adopted will be well at ease with the arbitration law of the country. It is in line with the above that one profoundly welcomes the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The application to set aside an award can only be made to the High Court located in the place the award was made, while an application to refuse recognition or enforcement is usually made where the successful party intends or applies to enforce the award.

When an award is made in arbitration, a dissatisfied party may by the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act apply to court by way of originating summons to set aside the award.

A party who brings an application that an arbitral award be set aside must make a case under any of the following categories: 1. That the award was improperly procured i.e. through fraud or other dishonest practice.

2. That the arbitrator has misconducted himself.

3. That there is an error on the face of the record.

The operating word used here is ANY of the above stated categories, and not all. Usually what comes to play here includes the simplicity of the arbitral process, the speed, and sometimes an understanding of the technical knowledge of the subject matter, and not because the arbitrator could not make an error of law. When an arbitrator however makes an error of law which is apparent on the face of the record, the award can be set aside.

By virtue of Section 29. A party who is aggrieved by an arbitral award may within three months, from the date of the award; or where there was a reason for correction and interpretation of the award or an additional award, from the date the request for additional award is disposed of by the arbitral tribunal, and by way of an application for setting aside, request the court to set aside the award in accordance with Section 29 (2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The court before which an application is brought, may at the request of a party where appropriate, suspend proceedings for such a period as it may determine to resume the arbitral proceedings or take such other action to eliminate the grounds for setting aside of the award.

In some cases during the arbitration and where it relates to situations like the wrongful admission or exclusion of evidence, a party may apply to the court under Section 15 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, that the Arbitrator states in the form of a special case for the opinion of the

court any question of law arising in the course of the reference under Section 12 of the Arbitration Act a party to the submission may apply to the court to remove the arbitrator who has misconducted himself. Also after the award but before leave of court to enforce it has been obtained from the court, a party may apply to the court that the award be set aside because the arbitrator has misconducted himself or on the ground that the award was improperly procured.

A breach of the rule of natural justice is a misconduct bias or the likelihood of it was regarded as misconduct. The English case of WALFORD, BAKER & CO. v MACFIE & SONS (1915) 84 LJ K.B is germane here, so is fraud or corruption of the arbitrator and error of law which appears on the force of the award.

Where an application to set aside an award or for clarification of same is pending before the court whom an application to enforce or recognise is brought or before any court that has jurisdiction so to do, it is wrong and improper to proceed and make orders for enforcement and/or recognition of the award. To do so will be like making an order for the enforcement of a Judgment when there is pending before the court an application to set aside the same Judgment.

The power to set aside an award is now statutory contained in section 29, 30 (1) and 48 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The common law ground of “error of law or fact on the face of the award” is no longer a valid ground on its own for setting aside an award under the current law, since the grounds are now statutory, but they may in appropriate cases be treated as misconduct of the arbitrators. Nor is it now part of the arbitration law of England as shown under section 81 (2) of the U.K. Arbitration Act, 1996.

In Section 68 of the UK Arbitration Act 1996, the expression “serious irregularity affecting the tribunal, the proceedings of the award” is used instead of the word “misconduct”.

Misconduct is a question of fact in each case and one can hardly do

more than give examples. In Nigeria, the locus classicus here is the leading Judgment of Justice Ogundare in the Supreme case of TAYLOR WOODROW (NIG) LTD v S.E.GMBH (1993) NSCC 415.

“The word ‘misconduct’ is not defined in the law nor is it stated therein what would amount to misconduct on the part of an arbitrator to necessitate the setting aside of an award. It be necessary, therefore, to fall back on the common law to determine what constitutes misconduct.”

In the above case, the Supreme Court quoted and adopted with approval the reasoning of the learned authors of Halsbury’s Laws of England at paragraph 22, 4th Edition, Volume 2 at pages 330 – 331. Although in exhaustive, a few examples were given.

An award that is improperly procured in any arbitration proceedings or award, may arise as a result of an improper relationship between the arbitrator and a party or his solicitor.

Setting aside an arbitral award under section 48 of the Nigerian law is based on Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Model Law. In theory, it is possible for an aggrieved party to an arbitration to resist the award by merely refusing to recognise or enforce it. However, in practice, since the beneficiary of the award can apply to court to enforce it, the aggrieved party must take some positive steps to support his refusal. To assist such a person, the law provides for refusal of recognition and enforcement of awards in section 32 and 52, the latter being for international awards only.

Section 32 provides: “Any of the parties to an arbitration agreement may request the court to refuse recognition or enforcement of the award” Unlike section 52, section 32 (which applies to domestic arbitration only) does not state the grounds upon which the court may refuse enforcement or recognition.

Section 52 (1) which applies to international awards only by virtue of section 43 provides as in section 32: “Any of the parties to an arbitration

agreement may request the court to refuse recognition or enforcement of the award” Subsection (2) provides: “The court where recognition or enforcement of an award is sought or where application for refusal of recognition or enforcement thereof is brought may, irrespective of the country in which the award is made, refuse to recognise or enforce the award” Section 54 incorporates the New York Convention being virtually identical and intended for international awards.

The grounds for refusing recognition or enforcement are contained in section 52, in respect of international commercial arbitration which is similar to Article 36 of the Model Law. There is no doubt that Nigeria has ratified the New York Convention governing the recognition and enforcement of foreign awards. The more uniform the Arbitration laws of most countries are, the more attractive the practice of arbitration will become internationally.

Ironically England is one of the states that has not adopted the model law, regardless of the above position one finds that decided authorities in English law reports are quite applicable to a number of the sections of the Act. It is respectfully submitted that the practical effect and the factual contents of the provisions of their laws relating to arbitration are not irreconcilable with those contained in the model law dealing with related issues.

The above should not be confused with the New York convention which England and virtually all nations have adopted as it relates to enforcement.

The New York Convention is for the Recognition and Enforcement of foreign Arbitral Awards. Awards made in Nigeria can be enforced in foreign countries on the basis of reciprocity in accordance with the provisions of the convention.

The Enforcement of a foreign award is often governed by treaty obligations.

An award can be recognised without being enforced, and when it is enforced it is deemed to have been also recognised.

Frank Ike Chude, MCIArb (UK) wrote in from Abuja.

29.03.2016

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Staying On Top: Tips for Managing Emerging Disputes in Africa Nathan Searle and Rashida Abdulai

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number of African nations are currently facing tough economic challenges, largely as a direct result of the recent oil price collapse and the end of the commodities supercycle.

Africa's oil producing nations are facing a significant challenge to balance their budgets in this challenging environment. With oil revenues accounting for the majority of the government's budget, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and biggest oil producer, has seen its growth reduce from 6.3% in 2014 to an estimated 3.3% in 2015, according to World Bank data. Angola, another oil exporter, has similarly seen its budget fall and GDP growth significantly slow.

In response to these challenges, governments are already taking action to revise their budgets, cut public spending and adjust their monetary and exchange control policies to seek to manage currency depreciations and falling foreign exchange reserves.

As African governments seek to drive up tax revenues and curb spending to plug the budget shortfall, we are seeing a renewed focus on bribery and corruption and the informal economy, transfer pricing, as well as an increase in regulatory action in other areas such as environmental protection, technology and telecommunications. There have also been proposals to review, renegotiate and/or suspend contracts or licences with investors operating in the commodities sector to take account of the impact of low prices. There is also a focus on local content requirements to encourage investment in local skills and capacity building to assist in the diversification of local economies. The increase in government intervention and regulation has given (and is likely to continue to give rise) to a number of disputes, both at the investor level and further down the supply chain.

But it is not all doom and gloom. Despite the downturn, growth rates in Africa continue to outperform many other global markets and, as a result, there remains continued interest and investment in Africa.

The downturn has also led to an increasing focus on infrastructure investment, particularly in energy and transport, as African nations try to build infrastructure to facilitate the growth and diversification of their economies. Although this provides investment opportunities, the large scale and, in some cases, ambitious time-frames for the delivery of these projects is also

likely to lead to disputes if they are not delivered on time or on budget.

Top Tips for Emerging Disputes In the face of an emerging dispute, early intervention and careful management of the dispute are key to minimising the risk of disruption to the business and long-term damage to reputation and relationships. In this article, we set out our tips for staying on top when a dispute emerges.

1. Identify and preserve your rights. Do you have a leg to stand on? (a) Identify: It is important to quickly identify and assess all relevant legal rights and remedies that may be available to you. In addition to contractual rights and remedies arising out of any contract, you may also have additional rights under the common law or statute. Accordingly, it is important that you identify which laws apply, particularly where the transaction is cross-border or involves agreements governed by different laws. (b) Assess: Assess which claims (or defences) to pursue and consider the time limits, known as limitation periods, applicable to any claim. The applicable limitation periods may be found in the relevant local laws on limitation periods and/or in the relevant contracts specifying when and how certain rights must be exercised. If you are close to the end of a limitation period, you will need to act quickly to preserve any claim by filing proceedings or agreeing to a standstill agreement with the other party to stop time running. (c) Preserve: Many claims are won or lost on documents. Documents do not lie or forget and are often prepared close to the relevant event at a time when a dispute was not in contemplation. Accordingly, contemporaneous documents carry significant evidential weight in a courtroom or arbitration hearing. It is therefore vital that you immediately take steps to identify and secure all documents relevant to the dispute. This includes electronic documents, such as emails and voicemails, as well as hard copy files. This is important for locating evidence to support your claim and, to the extent that there are any damaging documents, to give you the time to develop a strategy to deal with them.

Consider restricting access to, or password-protecting highly confidential documents to protect against their wider dissemination and never destroy or amend any relevant documents.

2. Get your story straight. Too many cooks spoil the broth. (a) Speak up: Once you have identified your rights, ensure that you do not lose them by taking any actions

or making any statements that could be construed as being inconsistent with the exercise or reservation of those rights. Rights can be lost by a "wait and see" approach and silence may amount to an affirmation of the contract in some circumstances, so consider writing a reservation of rights letter to your counterparty to indicate that you are considering your position. (b) Be consistent: It is important to have a strategy for all internal and external communications about the dispute to ensure that a clear and consistent message is being sent. This includes communications with your counterparty, with external bodies such as insurers or regulators and with your customers or investors. Identify and make clear who within your organisation has the authority to deal with the dispute, especially in large companies with multiple contact points. If you operate in a regulated industry, it is vitally important to additionally consider whether any potential dispute gives rise to reporting obligations under the relevant legislation. There are many advantages to engaging with regulators early and it may help to minimise any penalties if you are ultimately found to be in contravention. There may also be reputational risks to consider, so it is important to also have a strategy for dealing with stakeholder communications. (c) Protect communications: Take advantage of legal privilege protections. Consider involving a lawyer at an early stage as documents provided to a lawyer for the dominant purpose of giving or receiving legal advice and the resulting legal advice notes are generally protected from disclosure in legal proceedings by privilege.

Privilege can also extend to documents prepared internally for the dominant purpose of use in contemplated legal proceedings. When communicating with your counterparty, clearly identify those communications that are made for the purposes of settlement because these are likely to be covered by without prejudice privilege, which means that they also cannot be used in any subsequent proceedings.

3. Consider settlement options. Pick your battles wisely.

Finally, consider your settlement options at an early stage, including whether a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution such as negotiation or mediation may be appropriate. To help you decide whether it is a battle worth fighting, carry out a cost-benefit analysis, taking into account considerations such as the relationship cost, financial impact, management time, delay and the potential reputational risk of pursuing the matter to a final judgment or award.

Searle and Abdulai are Partners at Hogan Lovells International LLP, London

A DYING DECLARATION BY THE VICTIM OF A HOMICIDE, IS ADMISSIBLE IF MADE DURING A HOPELESS EXPECTATION OF DEATH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 no such issue was formulated out of the grounds of appeal bordering on the competence of the information. Thus, the Supreme Court held that since the issue was not before the Court of Appeal and it was not argued as a new issue before them, they lacked the jurisdiction to pronounce on same.

The Supreme Court relied on the case of OREDATIN v AROWOLO (1989) 4 NWLR (Pt.141) 172.

On issue number two, the Supreme Court held that the trial court did not need an address from counsel to the parties to decide whether or not a piece of evidence and exhibits admitted should be ascribed probative value, nor are counsel to the parties entitled to be heard in the evaluation of the evidence before the court.

On issue number three; the Supreme Court held that both lower courts rightly discountenanced the Appellant’s plea of alibi because the Appellant clearly failed to discharge the burden of proof of the alibi. The Supreme Court took this view because the Appellant failed to timeously and unequivocally state the people he was with at the time of the offence and only attempted to do that during his trial in court. The Supreme Court, thus, held that the plea of alibi was an afterthought, and that in any event, the evidence of the witnesses which placed the Appellant at the scene of the crime was overwhelming.

On issue number four; the Supreme Court observed that a tainted witness is a witness who is by evidence, an accomplice in the offence charged or as having some purpose of his own to serve. The Supreme Court relied on ISHOLA v THE STATE (1978) 9 & 10 SC 81. The Supreme Court declined to disturb the concurrent findings of the two lower courts, which were to the effect that the PW1 was not a tainted witness nor did her evidence require corroboration, more so as the Appellant failed to demonstrate any perversity in the said findings.

On issue number five, the Supreme Court equally declined to upset the concurrent findings of the lower courts which were to the effect that the evidence of PW3 and PW4 were

corroborated by the evidence of the other prosecution witnesses.

On issue number six, the Supreme Court observed that the evaluation of evidence is the exclusive preserve of a trial court and that in the circumstances of the instant case, the trial court properly evaluated the evidence placed before it. The Supreme Court predicated its finding herein, on the following observations, (i) the failure of the Appellant to properly prove his alibi; (ii) the absence of any evidence that the infliction of punishment on the victims, for immoral behaviour was different from the incident that gave rise to the trial; (iii) the Appellant’s contention that the generators tendered in evidence were not recovered from his premises, yet, he failed to produce the burnt generator; (iv) notwithstanding the volatility of petrol, the person who threw the match at the victims could not have been burnt as the appellant contends, since such person was not doused in petrol and such person threw the match from a distance.

The Supreme Court considered issue number seven to be a tautology because if the prosecution had arraigned the Appellant even with credible and reasonable suspicion, in the absence of proof, the trial court would have acquitted the Appellant. On issue number eight, the Supreme Court held that the contradictions in the prosecution’s case, which were the different accounts of the type of container in which the petrol was carried and what was used to ignite the fire, are peripheral matters that do not touch on the substance of the case.

On issue number nine, the Supreme Court held that judgment writing is a matter of art and the fact that either the Appellant’s case or the Respondent’s case was considered first will not affect a trial court’s resolution of the issues in contention between the parties. On issue number ten, the Supreme Court held that for a dying declaration to be admissible in a trial for murder, such declaration must have been made by the victim of the homicide who must have believed himself/herself to be in danger of approaching death. The Supreme Court relied on

the case R. v OGBUEWU (1949) 4 WACA 67. On the above premises, the Supreme Court held that there was no evidence that showed that the deceased believed herself to be in a danger of imminent death. The Supreme Court held that the Appellant’s reliance on a report that showed that the deceased suffered 65% degree burns; to argue that she stood no chance of survival was of no moment. The Supreme Court equally held that the statement the deceased made to PW7 does not unequivocally show a hopeless expectation of death.

On issue number eleven, the Supreme Court considered the Appellant’s allegation that the DPP set out to persecute him, to be unmeritorious for the following reasons (i) the statements of the deceased which the Appellant allege that the DPP omitted, were contained in the records of the court; (ii) the statement of the unnamed victims to PW8 were inadmissible hearsay evidence (iii) it is not the law that a victim of a crime cannot be named in the charge against the accused unless he makes a statement to the police; (iv) since the Appellant’s place was the scene of the crime, the DPP could go there either alone or in the company of his witnesses to obtain evidence.

On issue number twelve, the Supreme Court held that the absence of a murder weapon in a case is not fatal to the case since the definition/elements constituting the offence of either attempted murder or murder does not include the weapon used.

The Supreme Court resolved all the issues against the Appellant and accordingly affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Representation For the Appellant: Anne T. U. Ibinola (Mrs) with Chikezie Eguma For the Respondent: Adeniji Kazeem, A-G Lagos State with E. I. Alakija, DPP, D.A. Idowu, J.I. Jacobs and Olariroba.

Reported by Tochukwu J. Anaenugwu, Aluko & Oyebode, Lagos

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29.03.2016

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) Nigeria Branch held its Annual Mock Arbitration at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus recently. The mock arbitration was coordinated by its Young Members Group (YMG) (Below 40 years). Here are some of the personalities that attended the event. photos: Sunday Adigun

The arbitration tribunal, L-R: Mr. Paschal Madu FCIArb, Mr. Yemi Candide-Johnson SAN FCIArb and Mr. Abiola Adegoke FCIArb

Chair, YMG CIArb Nigeria Branch, Mr. Greg Nwakogo and Director (Academics) Nigerian Law School, Mrs. Olugbemisola Odusote

L-R: Mr. Vincent Iweze, Mr. Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, Mr. Justin Ige and Mr. Olugbenga Aduroja

Mr. Abiola Adegoke FCIArb and Mrs. Funmilayo Garrick

Mr. Oluwole Kehinde and General Manager, CIArb Nigeria Branch, Mrs. Oluwakemi Eweje MCIArb

L-R: Mr. Vincent Iweze, Mrs. Adetutu Adekoya and Mr. Oluwashina Adeboboye

Mr. Justin Ige (left) and Mr. Emuobonuvie Majemite ACIArb

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Indorama Attains Another Milestone Chika Amanze-Nwachuku writes on Indorama’s world class fertilizer plant, which is set to commence operations soon. The plant will not only boost agriculture output but will put the nation on the global fertilizer map as a producer and net exporter

IEFCL plant With global oil prices falling to $38 amidst fears of further collapse, economic experts have recommended a shift from Nigeria’s oil-based economy to agric-based economy.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy is one of the worst-hit oil exporters as its economy had depended solely on oil earnings. President Muhammadu Buhari had in August declared that with the dwindling oil prices, crude oil will no longer be sufficient as Nigeria’s major revenue earner, and pledged government’s readiness to assist as many who want to go into agricultural ventures.

Nigeria has all it takes for agriculture to thrive- good soil, vast land and people, who are willing to take any available opportunity to put food on the table in addition to generating huge earnings. Economic experts said Agricultural export is a multibillion-dollar business and has the potential to attract as much as $40billion into the Nigerian economy every year.

In a just release report titled: “Nigeria: Looking Beyond Oil,”, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) projected Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to rise to $6.4 trillion by 2050, thereby moving the country in the ninth position on the world ranking, surpassing Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Saudi Arabia..

In order to achieve the 2050 GDP growth projection, the PwC stressed the need for a diversification of the country’s economic overdependence on crude oil.

The PwC report identified agriculture, petroleum, retail and ICT as priority sectors with the most dominant transmission links to the overall economy. Potentially, Nigeria’s global agriculture exports could take-off at a rate similar to Brazil’s, with $59 billion in export revenues by 2030, PwC added. Little wonder that the Indorama’s world class fertilizer project has continued to receive huge commendation from well- meaning Nigerians.

The $1.5 billion fertilizer project was designed to boost the nation’s agricultural sector by providing needed fertilizers for farmers across the country to improve crop yield and fight hunger and poverty.

The Fertilizer Project Briefing journalists after a tour of the soonto-be commissioned fertilizer and Urea plants and port terminal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, penultimate week, Managing Director of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Manish Mundra said the 1.4million metric tonnes capacity per annum fertilizer plant will place Nigeria on the topmost position

Some of the critical sections of the plant , which have also been completed include the central control room, Ammonia and Urea Cooling Towers, Utility Boiler, Air Compressor, which are all functional

of Global Fertilizer producer and exporter.

According to Mundra, about 1million metric tonnes (MT) of fertilizers would be for export, while about 400,000 MT will be for the domestic market. He pointed out that apart from that Nigeria will become a net exporter of fertilizer, Nigerian farmers will now have access to quality fertilizer, which will boost the agriculture sector.

The fertilizer project was completed in just 36 months by Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Limited (IEFCL), a sister company of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals.

The plant built with state-of- the- art facilities and technologies from world class process licensors – KBR of United States and Toyo Engineering of Japan, has several critical sections, which had gone through various stages of pre-commissioning, commissioning and test-run, leading to the plant inauguration in the First Quarter of 2016.

It has an 83-kilometre gas pipeline to supply natural gas liquid (NGL) feedstock, and a port terminal at Onne Port Complex, also in Port Harcourt, which have also been completed to compliment the fertilizer project. The fertilizer plant has world scale capacity of Urea 4000 metric tonnes per day (MT/day) or 1.4 million MT per annum. The project components include 2,300 MT/day Ammonia Plant, 4,000 MTPD Urea granulation plant with associated offsite and utilities.

According to Mundra, “The Indorama fertilizer project is a whooping US$1.4 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) from Indorama Corporation, funded majorly by International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, and some Nigerian banks; and is one of Nigeria’s biggest FDI in the downstream sector of the nation’s economy.”

He added: “The plant adopted state-ofthe-art construction methodologies, using latest construction equipment, high capacity

cranes, committed and skilled manpower and supervision.” Investigations revealed that Indorama fertilizer plant is currently the world’s largest gas-based single stream Urea plant.

Some of the critical sections of the plant , which have also been completed include the central control room, Ammonia and Urea Cooling Towers, Utility Boiler, Air Compressor, which are all commissioned and functional.

Others are the Primary reformer, Secondary Reformer, Granulation, Material handling system etc. are in advance stage of construction and pre commissioning activities.

Port Terminal Complex A $140million investment, the Indorama Port Terminal complex, which is also 100 per cent completed, is another huge economic booster for Nigeria. The world-class port complex located at Onne Port, near Port Harcourt, was built by IEPL and IEFCL in partnership with Messrs OIS. Mundra said the port complex is a huge FDI in the maritime sector and a major boost to Nigeria’s industrialisation process and economic development. “This investment shows our deep commitment in fostering socio-economic prosperity of Nigeria”, he said.

According to the CEO, the port terminal was designed by reputed international engineering companies, while construction was handled by local reputed companies working in collaboration with expatriate engineers and other technical experts. He said in the tradition of Indorama, the port terminal has state-of-the art facilities and equipment to enhance its efficient operations. The port complex, he further explained is for exporting of dry bulk Urea fertilizer from Indorama’s fertilizer plant, and will also serve for import and export of various types of break-bulk & containerised Continued on page 26

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cargo for the partnering company, Messrs OIS. He explained that as a reliable transport and logistics system, the company will play a vital role in transporting Urea from the factory warehouse to the port terminal warehouse, adding, Indorama would provide a fleet of specially designed 40-numbers dump trucks, which will be plying to ensure the supplies and quality. At present, there is no infrastructure or facility at the Onne Port to handle dry bulk Urea fertilizer, so this project by Indorama is highly needed at this Port.

The terminal comprises marine facility of 320 meters quay to handle vessels ranging from 5000 dwt (deadweight) to 35000 dwt and 6.20 hectares of land terminal facility catering to handling & storage of dry bulk urea, break-bulk cargo and containerised cargo.

The terminal is self-contained with facilities such as power generation, water, waste water treatment & disposal and other utilities like fuel storage, water bunkering, firefighting, workshop, administration, amenities and security, etc.

Operators and stakeholders in the maritime and ports sector have expressed happiness that the investment would create a new value chain, facilitate operations in Onne Port, create more employment opportunities, increase revenue for the Nigerian Ports Authority and the related government agencies and empower host communities. In terms of environmental impact assessment, Mundra said, approvals were obtained from regulatory authorities and relevant ministries while impact assessment, monitoring and mitigation were carried out during construction work.

According to him, the commissioning of the port terminal is expected by this first quarter of 2016 alongside the inauguration of the Fertilizer Plant.

Employment generation Mundra also disclosed that aside the $1 billion that would be added to the gross domestic

Government (10%), Host communities (7.5%) and Nigerian employees of IEPL (2.5%).

The company has contributed tremendously to Nigeria’s economy through employment of over 7,000 persons in the complex, dividends to the federal and Rivers State government, raw materials for over 600 companies, huge taxes and VAT and huge corporate social responsibilities (CSR) for host communities.

Mundra product (GDP), thousands of direct and indirect employments would be created through the fertilizer project.

He said at the construction phase, about 4,500 workers were hired each day. According to him, 2,000 Nigerian workers were involved for a period of six months during the construction of the plant. He stated that during the second phase, which is operations, between 300 and 350 direct employment would be created because it is a world class plant that is fully automated. He explained: “We don’t need many people working around.

Everything is controlled from the control room. About 800 people will be on contract with respect to loading, packing, bagging etc. It doesn’t include the port operations, which will have 80 to 100 people. That is the direct employment. But indirect employment, such as transport facilities, and the usage of

fertiliser will create indirect employment.”

Accolades The IEPCL was declared as Nigeria’s best success story of privatisation by the BPE in March 2008. In 2012, it won a Presidential Award organised by the Nigerian Export Promotions Council (NEPC) for turning Nigeria into a net exporter of petrochemicals and putting the country on the world petrochemicals’ export map.

In 2014, the federal government named the company among the top 10 category of the top 100 businesses in Nigeria.

Business Model Indorama operates an excellent business model of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Its share ownership shows: Indorama as core investor (65%), NNPC (10%), BPE (5%), Rivers State

The Success Story The IEPL, formerly Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL) is one of the few exceptions to the gloomy stories of privatised public companies in Nigeria. It was a 100per cent subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Ten years after it was privatised, the company, which was moribund, has recorded many milestones in its operations. The company according to industry experts is among the few companies investors adhered to the spirit and objectives of the privatisation exercise following EPCL’s payment of dividends of N2.9 billion to the NNPC and N1.9 billion to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, (BPE).

NNPC handed over the management of EPCL officially to Indorama on August 7, 2006, which marked the series of efforts to revive what used to be a world-class plant but was ruined like the nation’s refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt due to years of neglect. EPCL, commissioned in 1995, operated for 10 years without turn around maintenance (TAM), though such maintenance was supposed to be done every two years. The 2006 TAM under Indorama was the plants’ first. However, Indorama has carried out a massive repair on the plants and revived them. Two other major TAMs were carried out in 2010 and 2014.

Besides the bid price of $225 million, Indorama Group also invested $30 million in the TAM and another $130 million as working capital.

Shell Restates Commitment to Efficiency in Energy Consumption Ejiofor Alike The Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor has restated the company’s commitment to the promotion of energy efficiency in Nigeria.

Speaking at the recent inauguration of the ImaniShell Estate Phase 2 located in Maitama District of Abuja, which was developed by Shell

Nigeria Closed Pension Fund Administrator (SNCPFA), in partnership with Imani and Sons Nigeria Limited, Okunbor said the new apartments were designed to be energy-efficient.

Okunbor, who is also Chairman of SNCPFA, noted that the estate was delivered without any injury. The estate consists of 28-unit luxury residential apartments to complement the existing 51 units in the phase one of the estate.

The Shell boss, who was

IITA, Ekimiks Organise Training for Youths The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with Ekimiks Nigeria Limited and L.A consult are organising a fiveday agribusiness training for youths in Nigeria and other African countries under the framework of IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA).

The training is a follow up to the first phase of training on Agripreneurial and Business Management organised

by Ekimiks Nigeria Limited for IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) in 2015.

It is part of efforts by IITA and partners to engage youths in agriculture as several countries on the continent are turning to agriculture because of the burst in commodity prices especially crude oil.

Tagged: ‘Developing Strategic Skills for Agribusiness,’ the training will commence on the 29th of March to 2nd of April 2016, with an address by

the Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga at the Conference Center of IITA in Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria.

The training, which is to sharpen the skills of the young Agripreneurs to excel as business owners and effectively equip them for the necessary business proficiencies along the agricultural value chain will draw participant from all the states of the federation including Abuja and other African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The five-day training will take the participants through several sessions like Building a Financially Viable Business, Critical and Strategic Thinking in Agribusiness, Identifying Opportunities within the Agribusiness, Effective Planning for Sustainable Farming Business, Fundamentals of Business Accounting, Busi-

represented by a Director, SNCPFA, Mr. Guy Janssens, said, “as a pension fund administrator, we are always thinking beyond the present”.

“The new apartments are designed to be efficient in energy consumption and will rank as one of the early green-rated residential accommodations in the Federal Capital Territory.

Thus, together with our partner, we are able to meet today’s needs without losing sight of the future,” he added

Also speaking, the Minister of the Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed described partnerships as a thrust of the President Muhammed Buhari administration.

“As I came into the estate, I saw workers everywhere. This tells me that the partnership that has delivered not just the estate but also employment opportunities to Nigerian youths is worthy of commendation and emulation,” the minister said adding that the government

was willing to promote and support any such partnership that would drive the government’s efforts at providing jobs and meeting the housing needs of Nigerians.

In his remarks, the Managing Director, SNCPFA, Mr. Akeeb Akinola, described the project as “a product of vision, commitment, hardwork, and collaborations”. He thanked the leadership of the Federal Capital Development Authority and the National Pension Commission

(PenCom) for their support in making the project a reality.

Also present at the event were the Minister of State for Environment, Mr. Ibrahim Jibrin; former Minister of State for the FCT, Senator Solomon Ewuga; Chairman, Imani and Sons Limited, Alhaji Bello Abubakar; President, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Rev. Ugo Chume; and SNCPFA’s External Directors, Mrs. Funke Osibodu and Mallam Balamu Manu.

Agribusiness Fela-Durotoye, Monye, Others Brainstorm on Sustainable Devt at Oxford ness Performance Ratios, Business Accounting Practice, Self-Management, and Managing Manpower for High Productivity.

Participants will also be trained on Essential Business Skills in Farm Management, Effective Sales and Marketing Strategies, Achieving Operational Excellence, Risks Management and Business Continuity Planning, Writing a Winning Business Plan for Agribusiness, and Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.

Successful entrepreneurs will also be present to share practical case studies and motivational talks with the aspiring agripreneurs.

The IITA Youth Agripreneurs is a group of young unemployed graduate, which was established in 2012 by the Director General of IITA Dr. Nteranya Sanginga to engage unemployed youths in agriculture.

Ugo Aliogo Tara Fela-Durotoye and Chukwuka Monye joined other African business influencers at the Oxford Business Africa Forum, hosted by Oxford University’s Said Business School recently to discuss spurring sustainable economic development across the continent.

The conference brought together a number of business heavyweights, Africans in the Diaspora and students from across the United Kingdom.

The aptly themed “Unreasonable Africa” forum discussed the sort of out-of-the-box thinking that is required to successfully conduct business on the continent with real life examples from a panel of experienced speakers. Key opportunities and challenges in agribusiness, energy, health, infrastructure, security, trade facilitation, ICT, finance and other sectors were discussed in detail.

The CEO/Founder, House of Tara International, Tara Fela-Durotoye, has built the organisation to a multi-billion naira business that has empowered over 5,000 women through its rep programme.

Stanford University recently published a case study on the beauty company, which has 19 stores across the country.

Founding Partner, Ciuci Consulting & Director General, Delta Economic Summit Group, Monye, is the innovation strategist and consumer intelligence expert behind over 180 projects that have led to the growth of many products, services and organisations including financial institutions, telecom value added companies and others such as city of Lagos monopoly and Luxe Bath & Body. While Fela-Durotoye spoke about mentoring as a critical component in empowering youth as typified in House of Tara’s sale representative

model, Monye tackled it from a capacity building perspective, advising that employers must invest in training their employees. Both business leaders who started their companies while young encouraged the youthful audience to be tenacious about being excellent at whatever they choose to do. Other representatives from Nigeria were Wale Olokodana (Enterprise Services Director, Microsoft Nigeria), Ladi Delano (Founder, Grace Lakes Partners) and Akinwole Omoboriowo II (Chairman/ CEO, Genesis Electricity).

The keynote speakers, Trevor Manuel (Senior Advisor, Rothschild Group & Former South African Cabinet Minister) and Dolika Banda (Independent Consultant & former acting MD and Regional Director, CDC Group) stressed the importance of integrity and the need to incentivise African intellectuals in diaspora to come back home to help the continent.

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Chime: Buhari Must Design a New Economic Master Plan President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Mr. Ugochukwu Chime, in this interview with Christopher Isiguzo, bared his mind on the state of Nigeria’s economy, positing that President Muhammadu Buhari must embark on a forensic assessment of key sectors of the economy in order to come up with a new economic master plan. Excerpts: The nation’s economy doesn’t seem to be in the right shape at the moment. What in your view is the way out?

The nation’s economy is in shambles for very many reasons; some are internal while some are external. The first thing we need to do is how do we manage the change, how do we come out of the problem. I believe there is ability in every disability, it’s a challenge and such challenge is to look inwards collectively and ask ourselves, why did we get here and how do we walk out of it. Looking at the nation’s economy, the immediate situation that led us to where we met this challenge of not being able to pay for the services we have as a nation. We’ve had about 50 Per cent drop in our income as a nation. It’s because there has been a fall in oil price. The global economic situation, the global communication network that we have has made it clear that we now operate in a global village and therefore the set of standards, the competences required to manage what you do in your village must be at par if not better with global standard. Whatever line of business you are operating in as a person, you realise that your competitors are not just those operating within your geo-political location, but there are those outside your location because the cost of transaction needs to be at par with your own or your own may even need to be better than theirs. So we as a country have not looked outside Nigeria, how did other economies manage their petro-dollars, how did they invest in other areas, what did they do, what are the components of their GDP; what are their niche areas that they developed which would give them comparative advantage over others. Where did they invest their money in impact investment such that when they consider basket of issues, to the point that they said this investment has to impact in such a way it will bring about employment and economic inclusiveness.

Those are the parameters that they used to assess how they do business and these are why some countries decide to concentrate on certain areas where they have comparative advantage. We never did that, we backed off and relied on oil, that is what we have now and there are a couple of other factors and any war raging between Russia and United States, whether they are fighting with armaments or they are fighting with oil, to make sure they pump out shell oil, in order to bring down economic power of Russia to prosecute wars in Syria and the rest of them will affect us as a collateral damage.

So, some of these collateral damage were not aware of some of the impact of this global economic wars going on. Consequently, we fall prey to that war; we became the grass that suffered. Internally, we’ve not recognised certain facts; there are basic human needs, food, clothing and shelter, the more you service the demand factors of man in that area, the better you have returns because man will opt for those core areas first because they are basic needs. Now, we have failed to invest in those basic needs on the sustainable level namely agriculture and housing. If we have had a consistent policy of enhancing those sectors, not enhancing them on the altruistic IMF policy of remove your hands from every sector, don’t subsidise every sector. It’s a lie because in their own countries, they still subsidise, they subsidise those economies. So, we bought into a falsehood, a false prediction and prescription from the Britain-Wood Institutions, IMF, World Bank. As at today, when there was crisis in the economy of the United States of America, what Obama did was to invest, subsidize housing production, that’s why today, in America, housing contributes up to 60% of their GDP, Agriculture contributes another huge portion;

They need food, they need clothing, they need shelter. How do we begin to change our economic master-plan to provide for them.

Why we are pursuing making sure that we have strong institutions that have proper governance in place, eliminate corruption and all the other challenges that we have, that built over the years, we must ensure that the voice that put the present government in place, that we prove to them that they have not been over-looked and that we are moving in the right direction to their being considered as a vital policy inputs in all that we do, otherwise, by the next four years, 2019, if they lose hope in the current government, am not talking about APC, PDP, if they lose hope in President Muhammadu Buhari, this country will go into a tail spin because they will look in the horizon and ask, who else can we trust after we have trusted such a man who had lived out his life in what we speaks. The crisis of confidence that it will generate will be more monumental and devastating that the current economic stress that we have. There will be socio-political challenges of hopelessness that will envelope the nation. I hope it will never occur.

Chime in South Africa, Housing contributes 30% of their GDP, in Nigeria, Housing contributes 0.5% of our GDP. We cannot reinvent the will, these are the sustainable areas. When you build an estate for instance, one house according to former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo -Iweala, with one Housing unit you construct, you have created seven to eight jobs, you’ve also created an internal revenue source for either the state or the local government on a perpetual basis; it’s not like a factory that folds up, that house is there, that is why in these economies, they contribute 60% like in the USA. The core question is how are we dealing with these since we failed to deal with them, because

The greatest thing he would have done for this country is to look inwards, he has lived for almost 80 years, he knows the people across the country, no matter which party they belong, that can help him deliver the goods

we failed to create this and have proper road map, a proper policy direction with all the necessary legal infrastructure, with all the necessary physical Infrastructure, with all the human development infrastructure that will ensure sustainable development of these need areas of man, of Agriculture and Housing, that is why we have fallen to where we are. Therefore, the road map should be, let’s get back to the basics and not on an emotional level, we are on a roller-coaster.

I remember a paper that was delivered by Prof Okwudiba Nnoli of the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, in 1984 titled Musical Cheers and Cheers for the Music. Incidentally, it was the same time that we have Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State. People like to tell people what they want, some of us are praying earnestly that this president who was elected, not because he is a member of any party but because the pro-literate, the poor masses love him and they believe in his personal character. They want to see him live what he speaks. Because of that, millions of people kept following him to any party he goes to; whether it is ANPP, CPC, they were with him, they believed in him. He must come to terms that whether he likes it or not, the voice of the people which he is carrying must come into the board-room of decision making and not be shut out.

And the only way those voices would come into the board room of decision making is that in any time, whatever we do as leaders, we must remember that these are the ones we are serving, the political class comes and goes, we must not be carried away by the various sub-divisions and those in pursuit of selfish interest and party spirit that takes place within the polity and among the superrich. We must get down to looking at the pro-literate, the poor masses, the talakawas and find out that they need three things.

Some people think our present predicament stems from the fact that we don’t have political direction I think the issue is not political direction.

The issue is more of the people around him not believing in what he believes in. The average politician, forget about whether it is APC or PDP, it is the same set of people moving back and front, he must know that he’s different. The greatest thing he would have done for this country is to look inwards, he has lived for almost 80 years, he knows the people across the country, no matter which party they belong, that can help him deliver the goods but above all, he must believe that there are still good people in Nigeria, that he is not alone, in which case that will strengthen his heart that he can carry the battle forward. The battle is not against PDP or previous regimes, the battle is against the pervasive and the very enduring corruption tendencies that is in all of us and our resistance to change, both the led and the leadership. Today, we know that the price of electricity has increased, we are asking the leaders to do something about it, to tighten their seat-belts, to make adjustments but as Nigerians, we have not made adjustments in putting off the fridge in our houses when we go to work. Buhari understood the situation in 1984, that was why he came up with War Against Indiscipline but the good thing then was that he had a command structure for him. The problem now is that the rat has grown bigger and the resources to tackle that rat has grown smaller; he doesn’t have the command structure of the military to do what he has to do. But the way forward is for him to understand that corruption is not personalised for anybody or group of people. Corruption is a system and am sure that with the type of thing that happened in the budget process, he would have seen now that corruption is more endemic and more persevering that he may have ever thought about and in the sobriety of that reality, some of us are praying that he will not give up but that he will continue to look inwards and that we’ll give him time. As these things are dawning on him, he must look forward at finding himself focusing not on the challenges but on the people he has come to serve and ask how do I serve them, how were they served in other climes and countries, how can I make the necessary Continued on page 28

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW CHIME: BUHARI MUST DESIGN A NEW ECONOMIC MASTER PLAN

changes, he may not solve all the problems but he must put enduring legacies in making institutional reforms in the way we do things.

Its not in the fruits of the tree but how does he plant enduring legacies the way we do things. We have decided to move away towards privatisation and commercialisation, what does it mean. Are other countries practicing it the same way, do we chose and pick where we do privatisation and commercialisation or must we look in or its privatisation and commercialisation another name for removing the safety nets that are available to the poor that voted him into power; are there ways we can ammend the cutting age of that privatisation and commercialisation in such a way that we’ll have good control mechanism that will limit the powers. He has done very well like the case of MTN, we need to move forward and ask ourselves, how do we make sure that these special interests do not overwhelm the country because they are very well armed financially and contact wise.

The government has spent more time in the past eight months fighting corruption while relegating most of the campaign promises to the background. What’s your take on this?

I don’t know the proportion of time he puts into fighting corruption but I still think that corruption must be fought to leave a signal to even those who are with him today that we cannot go on doing business like this anymore. If some of the things we are hearing are true, I think it is damaging and should not be allowed to go scot-free. We must have to start somewhere to say enough is enough. Having said that, the more enduring corruption is not stealing of money, there are more enduring corruption in terms of policies that are very terrible for the growth of our economy,. There are processes that have not been touched that are not in tandem with what we need for this country to move forward. In so far as they are there, they are corrupting whatever moves he makes to change the country; whatever policies he brings on board are affected by these things, part of the things he needed to do while pursuing corruption or those who stole our money is to do a forensic assessment with key stakeholders of the way we do things in our institutions. When that analysis has been done, we’ll discover what we need to do.

One important area of that forensic analysis is that he must eliminate the we versus them mentality which has made it very difficult for the poor masses to be part of decision making. I give you few illustrations. Many government establishments do not have the stakeholders who are involved in that industry as part of the board of the corporations. That is a systemic corruption on its own and it’s very damaging. I give you an instance maybe from the sector I operate. We have Federal Mortgage Bank supposed to be funded by 2.5% from workers and 10% of the loans portfolio from banks and 20% of portfolios from insurance companies apart from life premium and then some funding from federal government. Federal government has on that board staff of Central Bank who are part of the Governing Board, Federal government has refused to put money there but every year, Federal government appoints people into the board of the bank, nobody from the NLC is there or representative of the labour.

Nobody from the TUC is there yet it’s their money. Federal government has refused to put money into the bank but you appoint those from Aso Rock who will manage other people’s money and they manage it anyhow yet the intention, nobody has ever sat down to ask that there is a breach of this law. Where are the 10% from the banks, where are the 20% from the insurance companies; over the years, that’s why I said he must look at the poor masses and ask why are they not getting their dues. Why will somebody sit down there and appoint people to go and mange other peoples’ money without making any contribution. Every year, we have about 28 to 30 billion naira contributed by workers and that money is being used to pay Executive Directors, staff of the bank and the houses are not been built. If the workers today demand their money back, it will not be available anywhere. This is replicated in other sectors.

Globally, there is no country with such a scheme that does not do a matching grant.

If workers contributed 30 million every year,

Chime you are meant to match that money at least for the next 10 years. If government decides that whatever amount of money the workers contribute, we will match it twice every year to encourage this scheme to stand, let us put on board of the mortgage bank, or any other institution, may be agriculture, people who are stakeholders, you don’t need to populate it with political party people as have been the case, it will not work. This is a forensic appraisal that is shouting. Two, at the various levels, the way we do business, we have continued to do it the same way, we say we are privatising but we have gone back.

The Federal Housing Authority was set up during the military to build houses that are not expedient and profitable for the private sector to engage in, that is houses for the poor, the state housing corporations were set up to do the same thing. For the past 15 to 20 years, that has been annulled. They are now building for the rich who can afford to build their own houses. FHA is no more building for the poor, the state housing across the country is no more building for the poor, that is corruption of the policy they were set up to carry out. He should look at that corruption too. You cannot use our money to set up an institution supposed to provide housing for the people and that institution is providing houses for the upper 10% and you say that is not corruption, it is corruption.

We will look into and find out where are we and how do we need to move forward so that while pursuing how to retrieve our funds which we will use for development, we will also make sure that fresh funds are not lost because of systemic disequilibrium, the set up of this institutions or in their vision statements that have been corrupted over-time. These institutions that were set up to serve the poor in various areas having been misdirected. Workers contribute 7.5% for

Many factories have closed up and so many others are going to close up because the perception is that the private sector is making so much money and as such should be taxed more

the pension fund, their employers contribute 7.5%, the whole of that money contributed running into about 5 trillion today are no more being use to provide those services that the poor needs, they are now used to go and service interest of the rich. They are provided as loans, they are provided there in the Nigeria Stock Exchange where they can go and access it, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer but the money is the contributions of the poor through the pension fund and you come back to return it to them 15 years after when the purchasing power of that money is 20% of the original value.

What is correct is that we should as at now find a way to make sure that a percentage of it is directed towards providing services; whatever are the impediments in terms of the various institutions that will do them, we restructure them. If there is a challenge in those processes, you restructure them. We don’t throw away the baby and the bath water, we don’t become emotional about a challenge. In the case of the CBN, they have two directors in Federal Mortgage Bank, every year they are appointed and they sit down there, you are sitting on the board, CBN, you have control, you are sitting on the board, the bank is answerable to you, you have not been able to restructure it enough to invest money there for the poor masses.

Haba, there is a problem.

Clearly, there is need for government to diversy but looking at the budgets by most of the states, they seem to be more interested in tasking the poor instead of diversifying.

How are you looking at the issue of double or multiple taxation?

Many factories have closed up and so many others are going to close up because the perception is that the private sector is making so much money and as such should be taxed more, that’s very wrong. We have complained, we have written, after some time, what some of the companies did was to sell off and then move into other areas.

Some have gone out of some states, there are some competitions going on now within some states even though some state governors are not aware of. Some governors who are very innovative have created more enabling environment so I can freely move my factory from where it is located and go to a state where the environment is more conducive for me to start producing. And we have been telling some of them from this area that there is a stiff competition going on.

How can we make it better, how can we talk more, the state governments should be having quarterly meetings with the captains of industry because we are working for them.

We are giving employment to the masses who they swore to look after, we are paying tax, those workers are paying income tax, we are their partners, our wellbeing will mean their own wellbeing, if our factories close up, if our businesses close up or taxed out of existence, then we’ll all be worse off for it, there will be no more factories to tax, when you kill all the businesses through

multiple taxation and through agbero taxes which thankfully enough, the governor of Enugu state has stopped because in the last administration, we had terrible situations with thugs who invade offices and shopping malls as if we are criminals. We’ve engaged them, can we talk, we know your problem, you need more money and we are here to assist, the money will come when we work together, create an enabling environment of prosperity for all of us, we need to be partners in progress, we are presently using the wrong set of values in addressing the problem we have, we have gone on foreign trips to come and bring investors, how many of them have come, none. Because the first question an investor usually asks is how are the local people operating, what is the cost of doing business, what is the business environment like, what is the transaction cost and transaction time required to do business in your clime and when they do their profiling, when they do their due deligence, they find out that your environment is not okay, so no matter when you visit them a million times, it won’t work, you need to come down and create enabling environment. Secondly, some of them need to have local partners who will cut down their risks; risk to their lives and other risks. No other country has ever travelled to Nigeria without their captains of industry being part of their delegation, they never do that. Its only in Nigeria that a delegation that goes to source for investors go only with government team without the private sector. It’s an anomaly that we need to correct if we must do things properly.

ECCIMA is coming up with this year’s trade fair, what are you bringing on board this time around?

We now have an Enugu Free Trade Zone that’s about a year old, we now have international airport, we are trying to make Enugu a destination of choice in terms of business.

We are trying to discuss with the governor, can we have a one-shop-shop that will stay under the ministry of Trade and Commerce where every investor can receive information on all that you need to do business in Enugu state and to keep on having business, what are the tax platforms that you have, what are the incentive platforms that you have, we will need to sit down together as a chamber and get these information and pas it through the medium of chambers of commerce worldwide. That is a veritable tool that we are trying to engage in now. Another aspect is competency enhancement among members. We discovered that their ability to change and see the global competition that we’ll have has not been there, we are educating our members, we are bringing about information, we are creating knowledge platforms, basically our approach is how to manage the change that we have seen and the problems we have seen. One is the element of change of mindset among members through education, advocacy and through sharing, through mutually beneficial discussions with stakeholders, government, the organised labour and everybody, the second one is to change the process of doing things so we can have a defined template with government and within government, defined template within the organised private sector so that when we start on a rout of trying to come up with business idea, you know how it will end having known the hindrances, the mitigation factors you can put in place, that is template.

That is what I call the process review we are doing. The third element is the deployment of technology so that we can have real time information on these two aspects, we can have real time response to people because time is money and we have to keep our issues within the global technology. These are what we are deploying. The trade fair is not the chamber, it is only an aspect of the chamber, it is the face of the chamber but not the chamber, what we do behind in terms of interacting with governments, in terms of meeting people, in terms of easing processes are even more than 90% of what you see in the trade fair. So, we’ll keep the media abreast with these issues on quarterly basis. We will improve our relationship with government so that we’ll do away with the we versus them mentality, which has been prevailing over the years. That is what we are working on.

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INDUSTRY

As Osun Breathes Fresh Air into Farm Settlements As agriculture takes centre stage in the nation’s economy, Yinka Kolawole reports on Osun State’s efforts to leverage on the green economy to reposition itself

Cocoa plantation Life is gradually returning to the nine farm settlements located across the State of Osun.

Settlers have attributed this fresh breathe to the attention the settlements have received and the infrastructure upgrade being carried out by the present administration to make them functional, conducive and habitable for both old and new farmers.

Improvement in the facilities available on the farm settlements have also triggered a significant increase in the number of applicants for land in the settlements and improved land under use, with attendant enhanced social life.

Historically, the three residential farm settlements in Ago-Owu, Esa-Oke and Oyere were established in the 1960s by the late sage and former Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, but had since be neglected by successive administrations until recently.

The military regime of Colonel Theophilus Bamigboye between 1997 and 1998 added three small and peri-urban farm settlements, which were located at Igbaye, Ifon-Orolu and Oluponna.

While the administration of Chief Adebisi Akande between 1999 and 2003 also made concerted efforts to return life back to the settlements. He embarked on some renovations at the existing farm settlements and created three non-residential settlements at Mokore, Iwo and Ila-Orangun, bringing the total to nine.

The current administration under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, had since assumption of office, through the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Programme (O-REAP), embarked on programmes directed at revitalising the farm settlements through measures that would bring about improvement to them and make them conducive for existing farmers as well as encourage new ones especially the youths who are interested in farming.

The O-REAP identified agricultural land

as a key resource and as a result instituted a mechanism, termed the Osun Farm Settlements Land Validation Project, to collate detailed situation report on the existing agricultural lands on the government farm settlements.

Gboyega Osobu, project leader, O-REAP, said this became necessary for effective management of the land holdings, farmers information and ultimately to increase the amount of land available for both small and large scale farmers.

Osobu stated further that the validation project; a first in the history of farm settlements in south west Nigeria, was carried out in two phases with the active involvement of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES) cadets and staff of Agric Services Department of the State Ministry of Agriculture

Since the coming of the present administration in the state, there had been radical transformation in term of agricultural activities in the state

and Food Security. He said the project adopted the use of the Geographic Information Technology (GIS) to map the boundaries of individual farm holdings and of the farm settlements, after carrying out a perimeter survey of all the farm settlements.

At the end of the validation exercise, Osobu noted that records showed that there are over 7,000 farmers spread across the nine settlements occupying two to ten hectares (Ha) of land. Over 4,211Ha of land was also discovered, bringing the total size to approximately 20,200 Ha. An Agric land allocation committee constituted by the Governor has since allocated up to 6000Ha of land to 250 smallholder farmers. Also, the data generated was utilised in developing an Agriculture Land Planning Information System (ALPIS), conceived to assist in the overall management activities and to make the information relating to the farm settlements available at the touch of a button.

In terms of physical upgrade of infrastructure; over 100Kilometres of roads have been constructed in and around the farm settlements to allow for access and movement of farm produce out of the settlements. Over 30 bridges, 100 culverts built, a number of electrification projects, provision of bore holes, construction of over 120 cribs for storage and the construction of model medical centres have been facilitated by the Aregbesola-led government.

According to the General Manager, Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSADEC), John Olanipekun, the state government provided free mechanisation services for clearing and preparation of farmland of over 7,000 hectares owned by farmers to boost massive food production in the state.

Olanipekun said, “Since the coming of the present administration in the state, there had been radical transformation in term of agricultural activities in the state. When the

government came to power, it realised the need to diversify the economy of the state, which is changing tune from over reliance on oil to agriculture. This is also seen in the attention given to farm settlements in the State.”

OSSADEC has also cleared and tractorised 754 hectres of land for various group of farmers outside the farm settlements at subsidised rate, thus making farming easy for farmers in the State of Osun. The state government has also assisted farmers in the settlements and in other parts of the state to access credit facilities. Olanipekun disclosed that since the Aregbesola-led administration came into office, no fewer than 3,645 farmers have benefitted from loan facilities of N429, 740,000.00, while in 2015 it commenced the disbursement of N500million to about 5,500 farmers across the state.

According to Olanipekun, “the loan is interest free to farmers. The state Government paid the interest on behalf of the farmers to the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), which is collaborating with the state on the implementation of the loan scheme. The Government made it zero percent interest to make it accessible to farmers, so as to boost their morale. This loan covered virtually all aspects of agriculture, ranging from crops, livestock, fishery, piggery and agricultural marketing like agro chemical and insecticides.

Aside from the cash loan, there are other kinds of loan facilitated by the state government to farmers. For instance, the State under O-REAP, gave agro chemicals, seeds and seedlings to identified farmer groups and individuals.

The State has also assisted farmers in adding value to their produce through the provision of storage facilities to farmers. It constructed over 120 Cribs for storage, which is highly subsidised by the state government.

Continued on page 31

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INDUSTRY AS OSUN BREATHES FRESH AIR INTO FARM SETTLEMENTS Olanipekun said OSSADEC has 10 set of cassava processing equipment, another 10 set of cassava chipping machines, 3 set of Yam Flour (Elubo) processing equipment, four set of multi grain threshing equipment, 20 Rice Harvesting Equipment to sell to farmers, group of farmers and farmer cooperatives at 40% subsidy. He stressed that before now, there was no such gesture.

“Before this administration came to power, there was no provision for post-harvest storage for farmers”, Olanipekun declared.

The impact of all the above is that the farm settlements have experienced an influx of intending farmers of diverse nature.

Besides, the state government recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the establishment of a demonstration farms at Ago Owu Farm Settlement in the state for best farming practices.

The state government in the agreement would made available 204.39hectares of land at the farm settlement for the development of agriculture and production of massive food as alternative to reliance on oil sector.

The demonstration farm centre is also for the purposes of conducting research and train young farmers in the state in modern, commercial and profitable farming. Under the agreement, the IITA will also carry out cassava, plantain and other crops multiplications.

Also, the state late last year signed $50million Agriculture Investment with a United States of American (USA) Firm for the provision of modern agricultural technological services, aimed at given fresh impetus to its agricultural sector revolution drive in the state.

The MoU covered the development and infrastructural upgrade of a breeding, fattening and processing of beef cattle ranch and the establishment of agricultural equipment leasing and hire centres to be managed by JIL farm Limited.

An investigation conducted by our correspondents revealed that retired military officers, retired civil servants, academicians including professors, retired teachers with interest in farming are being attracted to the farm settlements. Apart from this, teeming number of artisans, technicians who are dealing in farm equipment as well as traders of agro chemicals are relocating to these farm settlements for commercial purposes, thus boosting the social life in the settlements.

Cassava processing, palm oil processing facilities and other small processing points operated by private individuals are also springing up, especially in the three older residential farm settlements. To meet the shelter needs of the settlers, the over 600 housing units built for farmers by Awolowo are now being renovated for use by the state, while new ones were seen being constructed by farmers.

A visit to the farm settlements also revealed that private, public elementary schools as well as middle and high School are present for children of the settlers to acquire formal education. Indeed, the Middle and High School, established in 2010 when the governor came into office, have turned out their first set of students for the school leaving certificates last year.

Two of the first set of settlers at Ago-Owu farm settlement, Elder Samuel Adeleke Olubode and Pa Jimoh Omotosho, commended the State Government for assisting in returning life back to the settlements. Olubode who claimed he came to Ago-Owu farm settlement in 1960, stated that had the State Government not come up with the gesture of providing the needed infrastructure and incentives, the settlement would almost have been total deserted. He explained that the increase in population being witnessed now has brought renewed hope to the farmers, especially their children.

Omotosho called on the government to help the farmers in the settlements to prevent the invasion of cattle on their farm, arguing that often times there are clashes with Fulani herdsmen over grazing on the settlements.

The President, Conference of Osun State Farm Settlements Association (COSFSA), Chief Rasaki Adebayo Adedapo, who is also Elemono of Ila-Orangun, also commended Governor, State of Osun for the gesture. He however added that the approach of passing information to farmers should be enhanced.

A retired civil servant, Alhaji Wale Ogungbe

Aregbesola said he came to the farm settlement after he retired from the civil service. He noted that his love for farming and the encouragement from government boosted his morale to relocate to the farm. The Director Agricultural Services, Osun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Kola Dauda Ajisekola, said that the farmers are getting things right under the present administration, hence the youth are now been encouraged to go back to farm.

“The youth were complaining in the past that they cannot use cutlasses and hoes to farm, but now that we are mechanizing agriculture in the state, they are being encouraged to partake in farming. The land cleared in farm settlements have been given out to youths at no cost. This has really encouraged them”, he said.

Commenting on the development, the Coordinator, O-REAP, Dr. Charles Akinola, noted that it was an indication of success for the present administration in the area of agriculture and food security.

He explained that government interventions revealed that large chunk of farmland are not under cultivation in most farm settlements.

He said that such parcel of land were taken away and given to those who needed them to farm under its land audit and validation exercise.

“It is an indication of success that we have recorded because if you go to the farm settlements, when we came in there were large track of land not under cultivation, but with the awareness and the seriousness which the government attach to agriculture in Osun, we are taking the land from those who are not using it and giving it to those in need of it. So under this new arrangement, young people and professionals are all there to farm, especially now that we are at a point where we start to measure performance once you are there. You must perform or otherwise the land will be taken away from you”, Akinola noted.

Akinola also pointed that the agency would continue to bring in the private sector into playing prominent roles in agriculture. He cited the prompt and efficient distribution of farm inputs and penetration under its private sector led farm input supply programme, as one of such dividend.

He further disclosed that the state government is planning to establish more modern farm settlements as it sources for more land and encourage farmers to use them. He noted that the state government had identified and approached some traditional rulers and communities with wide expanse of land to release or lease them to the government for the purpose of farming, while government would in turn hold this land in trust on behalf of such individuals or communities.

Akinola, who is also the Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnership, said that the State government has entered into partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on improved seed multiplication to guarantee massive food production programme in the state.

Under the partnership, the institute will assist the State in the establishment of a seed laboratory in the State University, UniOsun, to enhance profitable seed and seedling multiplication business in the state.

The gesture, he stressed, will also boost agri-preneurship, and enhance capacity for agric-business and other activities on the farm settlements.

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PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT FG Urged to Rehabilitate Deteriorating Federal Highways The Federal Government has been urged to rehabilitate some dilapidated highways to prevent them from becoming completely impassable, reports Bennett Oghifo

Slow traffic on Sagamu-Ore road…recently

S

ome of the nation’s dilapidated highways that were being reconstructed or rehabilitated before the change in the Federal Government, have deteriorated and may soon become impassible.

People who use these roads regularly and those who had to use them during the Easter holiday, complained about the ugly state of these roads. The roads listed by the commuters are the Ogbomosho-Ondo-Lokoja stretch; the Sagamu-Ajibadele-Ore axis; the Benin-Auchi; some sections of the Abuja-Kaduna road, among others.

These are vital link roads that should be rehabilitated or reconstructed, depending on their state of disrepair, regular users of these roads said. Roads are vital to the economic development of a country and thus, should draw the attention of the government.

For instance, it is sad that the construction of the Ekiti to Ilorin section of the Ibadan-Ilorin expressway is yet to be completed and this neglected road puts a lot of pressure on the Akure single carriageway, resulting in avoidable accidents.

The Benin-Auchi road dualisation has been stalled for months, fueling suspicion that it may have been abandoned altogether. The increase in traffic during the holiday caused unprecedented jams on the road just as it did on the Ajibadele-Sagamu stretch of the Ore-Sagamu road. those who travelled to parts of the South East are unhappy with the state of the roads on the Abia-Imo axis and that of the OnitshaAwka-Enugu stretch. These roads have trenches and holes deep enough to stall the progress of

jeeps that are built for such roads, according to some people who travelled along these paths recently. The Onitsha-Enugu highway project is 108.6km long and poor funding is responsible for the slow pace of its reconstruction.

Rehabilitation of the Jos-Potiskum-Maiduguri road has been stalled for years because of the activities of insurgents in that part of the country. In Plateau State, the reconstruction of Vom-Manchok road makes movement in that axis very easy but some spots need to be rehabilitated along the Kaduna-Jos; KadunaKeffi roads.

Commuters on most of these roads spend over four hours trying to traverse this section that is less than a kilometer because of the gullies there that flip goods-laden trucks on their sides. It is uncertain the percentage of the N350 billion the Federal Government plans to spend would be devoted to roads rehabilitation and reconstruction or to payment of debt owed contractors, put at N1.87trn.

However, there are signs that the government intends to pay attention to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of these dilapidated roads but has financial constrain. This was made known last December by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who said, “The Federal Government budgeted N18.132 billion in 2015 and the Ministry of Works got N13 billion for all roads and highways in 2015, although it has contracts for 206 roads, covering over 6,000km worth over N2 trillion.”

Fashola said for the government to deliver on its promises to Nigerians, it would need to increase its capital budget to enable it significantly meet the infrastructural needs

of the nation. “The records that have been made available from previous budgets show that the last time Nigeria budgeted over N200 billion in a year’s budget for roads was in 2002.

It seems that as our income from oil prices increased over the last decade, our spending on roads decreased.

“We are at a point where the 2015 Budget made only a provision of about 16 per cent amounting to approximately N557 billion for capital spending out of a total budget of over N5 trillion. “We are at a period when oil prices have dropped from where they were a year ago. We spent less on capital when we earned more from oil, today we must spend more on capital even as we earn less.

“The first thing that must change is the Capital to Recurrent ratio of the budget, and our colleagues in the Ministries of Finance and Budget and Planning are working on this and they will address you at their own time on the changes they have made and what citizens must do to enable them achieve that plan.”

According to him, “The budget is the article of faith of every serious nation and our resolve to do more capital spending with less resources must be indicative of our seriousness to reflate this economy.”

Lack of funding, he said had caused many construction companies to retrench their workers due to the huge debts owed them by the various tiers of government, adding that if the Federal Government was able to pay those construction companies, they would be able to recall most of the employees that were laid off and by extension help the government achieve its promises on job creation.

“Jobs have been lost in the road construction

industry, which affected our GDP figures and we started talking about recession. As at May 2015, many contractors have stopped work because of payment, and many fathers and wives employed by them laid off as a result.”

He said by the end of September last year, when budgets had been fully exhausted, the number of people laid off increased and that he was optimistic that after paying these contractors, “we will restore the lost jobs as an economic intervention of our promise of change.”

He said the government would maintain these roads through toll collection. “Maintenance would be our watchword. We are setting up a robust maintenance regime to keep our highways in good shape.”

As priority, he said the ministry would focus on state-link roads and roads with the heaviest traffic flow before it would continue with some other ongoing projects. “Our ability to achieve connectivity of roads depends on capital spending in 2016 to pay contractors and get them back to work.”

On the recovery of the right of way of federal roads (road setbacks), he said, “In order to make the roads safer, we intend to re-claim the full width and set back of all Federal roads, representing 16 per cent and about 36,000km of Nigeria’s road network by immediately now asking all those who are infringing on our highways, whether by parking, trading, or erection of any inappropriate structure to immediately remove, relocate or dismantle such things voluntarily. This will be the biggest contribution that citizens can offer our country as proof that we all want things to change for the better.”

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PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT

ASHAKACEM Commits N700m to Construction of Concrete Road in Gombe Bennett Oghifo Ashaka Cement Plc., a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa Plc., and member of LafargeHolcim, has held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of 8km concrete road in Maiganga in Gombe State.

The Maiganga concrete road construction project, which groundbreaking was performed by the Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, is one of the several concrete road projects Lafarge Africa Plc has embarked upon in the past few months.

Another 20km concrete road by the company is currently under construction in its Unicem Mfamosing Plant in Calabar, and this project is being done at a cost of about N12bn. The construction started last year, and about 4km has been done, including a 750m dual carriage way and a roundabout.

Chairman, Board of Directors, Ashaka Cement Plc., Mallam Suleiman Yahyah, while welcoming the Governor of Gombe State, his deputy, Emirs, and other special guests and representatives of the local community to the ceremony, stated that the Maiganga concrete road construction was an initiative of the company, designed to contribute to the socio-economic development of the state.

Yahyah noted that the project

stands out, as it was the first of its kind in Northern Nigeria that was done by any corporate entity, and that it was another in the series of the company’s community development projects. He added that the company recognised the need to address the significant social challenges of the state and that of the surrounding communities and, has therefore resolved to continue to supplement the government’s efforts and build a greater Nigeria.

He stated that one of the core values of the LafargeHolcim group was sustainable development and that being a subsidiary of this world leader in cement manufacturing, his company upholds this great value and therefore gives great attention and high commitment to care for its local communities.

“For us, being socially responsible is making an investment into the lives and future of both the people and our organisation. This explains why we have remained undeterred in our efforts at improving the livelihood of our communities through the provision of basic amenities and infrastructural development, despite the challenges posed to our operations in recent times by the insecurity situation in this region,” he explained.

The Chairman revealed that the project was awarded to a local contractor at the cost of N700 million only, with all preliminary work concluded to enable the company commence construction immediately with estimated completion period of 12 months.

Yahyah stated that choice of concrete in construction of the road was deliberate because it was to showcase the innovative capability of LafargeHolcim as being experienced in other parts of the world. He described the

anticipated benefits of the road project as enormous, and with huge potential to boost economic, agricultural and social activities in the area.

“Concrete roads have long service-life of forty years; whereas asphalt roads last for ten years. Moreover, during this service life concrete roads do not require frequent repair or patching work like asphalt roads. No repair work is expected in the first 10 years for instance. Concrete road has lasted for well over 100 years

in other climes. For areas with peculiar terrain, low CBRO, heavy volume of traffic and load-carrying roads, concrete is the perfect answer,” he explained.

Furthermore, he said, “A vehicle, when run over a concrete road, consumes 15-20 per cent less fuel than that on asphalt roads. This is because of the fact that a concrete road does not get deflected under the wheels of loaded trucks. Also unlike asphalt roads, concrete roads do not get damaged by

the leaking oils from the vehicles or by the extreme weather conditions like excess rain or extreme heat.

“Asphalt (bitumen) produces lots of highly polluting gases at the time of melting it for paving.

Also, less fuel consumption by the vehicle running on a concrete road means less pollution.”

Governor Dankwambo congratulated LafargeHolcim for the landmark achievement and gave assurance of his government’s support for the project.

R-L: Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover, Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigel Clarke helps provide a child with safe drinking water at school for the first time, as part of Jaguar Land Rover’s global CSR programme… recently KATE HOLT

AfDB Celebrates World Water Day Uncontrolled Production, Trade ‘Investing in Safe Water for The African Development water-related jobs, a visit (AfDB) attaches considerable importance to the water and employment sectors – which are also parts of its five operational priorities, the High Fives – and is supporting the Ivorian Government in celebrating the 2016 edition of the World Water Day, on March 22, 2016.

The theme this year is “Water and Jobs”. Industry experts, scientists, development partners and representatives of the civil society will discuss how water can contribute to create jobs and wealth.

World Water Day falls within a broader National Water Week organized by Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Forestry and which takes place from March 22-24.

These two complementary events represent an additional opportunity to celebrate water and reflect on its linkages with employment.

The 2016 edition of World Water Day intends to recall that millions of people working in the water sector are often not recognized or protected by basic labour rights. Today, almost half of the world’s workers – 1.5 billion people – work in water-related sectors and nearly all jobs depend on water and those that ensure its safe delivery.

The 2016 theme of “Water and jobs” is focusing on how the quantity and quality of water can change workers’ lives and livelihoods – and even transform societies and economies.

Various activities are planned: scientific lectures, an open house in a vocational training centre for

to water basins polluted by human activities, alongside the screening of a film on the integrated management of Gourou watershed in Côte d’Ivoire, a project supported by the African Development Bank. A rapid and uncontrolled urbanization and poor solid waste management, among others, transformed Ebrie lagoon into an unhealthy and stagnant body of water, with recurrent flooding in the surrounding neighbourhoods in Greater Abidjan.

The World Water Day and National Water Week events will help attract public attention to the water sector, a key factor of socioeconomic development, with a view to promoting dialogue between stakeholders, alerting decision-makers to the need for sustainable water resources management, raising awareness among local populations on good practices for sustainable use, and preventing waterrelated conflicts. The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach, a key asset to sustainable management, will be widely discussed as the solution of the future. The Ivorian Government will seize the opportunity to take stock of the implementation of IWRM process in the country.

Some 200 participants are expected for this event organized by the Ministry of Water and Forests of Côte d’Ivoire, in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the National Water Partnership of Ivory Coast (PNE-Cl) and the African Water Association (EAA).

Undermine Global Mercury African Communities Business Sense for JLR’ Agreement, Says Group Fadekemi Ajakaiye Commitments toward stronger global mercury controls are being hampered by illegal, unreported and unregulated mercury production and trade, an international NGO coalition revealed on the eve of a UN mercury treaty meeting in Jordan, recently.

The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) said that global efforts to reduce emissions of mercury may be derailed if gaps in mercury production and trade controls are not addressed before the treaty enters into force.

“Trafficking in mercury is not like selling potato chips,” said Michael Bender, ZMWG International Coordinator.

“There are well known consequences when mercury gets haphazardly produced, traded and subsequently released into the biosphere.”

Mercury is a potent persistent neurotoxin that bioaccumulates, posing the greatest risks to developing children, coastal populations and millions of small-scale gold miners using mercury around the globe.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, agreed in 2013, signed by 128 countries and ratified by 23 nations (including Nigeria) thus far, is a treaty that protects human health and environment from mercury pollution. The treaty bans new mercury mines, places control measures on air emissions, imposes regulations

on artisanal and small-scale gold mining, and enforces the phase out of existing mines and products. The meeting in Jordan this week is the seventh session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on mercury. Delegates are meeting to agree on the finer details of the agreement. This is the last meeting before the Convention enters into force, once 50 countries ratify it.

“Countries need to stay true to the spirit and intent of this historic agreement,” said Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, ZMWG International Coordinator. “In order to stop the flow we need to first know where mercury supply comes from and where it goes.”

Significant gaps in information on mercury production and trade flows prevent a clear understanding of the global supply situation. There is currently no standard information or listing on mercury production, supply and trade. Some mercury producing countries do not report production levels and many countries have no accurate listing of their mercury stocks due to the proliferation of illegal or smuggled supplies.

“It is worrying that new and soon to be illegal primary mercury mines are now popping up in Indonesia and Mexico, and that East Asia is emerging as a major mercury trading hub,” said Richard Gutierrez, Director, Ban Toxics! – Philippines.

Investing in safe water for African communities makes business sense for Jaguar Land Rover, Nigel Clarke, Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover Sub-Saharan Africa has said.

“Jaguar Land Rover is growing and we take our role as a responsible corporate citizen seriously. For over 60 years we have invested in communities around the world supporting social, educational and environmental projects.

“By working with experts we can ensure we deliver support which is appropriate, effective and leaves a lasting legacy. For example, since 1953 we have worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, loaning and donating 120 vehicles and providing direct help to more than 800,000 people. Since 2009, we’ve worked with climate and sustainable development company ClimateCare, to deliver an integrated Climate+Care programme that cuts carbon and improves lives around the world.” He said in 2013 Jaguar Land Rover launched its Global CSR Programme that would create new opportunities for 12 million people around the world by 2020. This integrated approach, pulling together our UK and global activities, supports our global growth plans, and helps focus our staff and national sales companies around the world on a common goal.

“We want to help build stronger communities around the world, delivering positive

Makes

impacts for society by tackling issues pertinent to both our industry and the communities in which we operate,” explained Mike Wright, Executive Director, Jaguar Land Rover.

“Water is one such issue.

With rising demand and the impacts of climate change putting increasing pressure on water resources, reducing water consumption across our own operations is critical to future-proof our business, as is supporting access to safe water in the communities in which we operate.” The economies of African countries have grown rapidly and it is becoming an increasingly important region for Jaguar Land Rover. Of our 45 global projects, 11 are in Africa, where we use our resources to help address social issues and support further economic development. Since 2013, our support for life-changing projects has delivered new opportunities for 2.9 million people in Africa, and by April 2016, this will rise to four million.

The organisation has a strong business case for investment in Africa. We select activities which reflect our core values and which really matter to staff and stakeholders, inspiring and motivating them. And, by addressing key social issues it helps people achieve their potential, supports economic growth something that will ultimately both improve the availability of future talent for job opportunities and create new demand for its vehicles.

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PROPERTY NEWS

‘Right Policies, Political Will Necessary to Make Africa Next Clean Energy Powerhouse’ Africa be the next clean energy powerhouse if the right policies and the requisite political will are in place.

That was the conclusion reached by the second plenary panel at the Africa CEO Forum, recently.

As Siyanga Malumo, CEO of the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, said, “The money is there: so we need the policy, the enabling environment, and the right tariff structure.”

Moderated by Pascal Agboyibor, the Monday session began with an overview from Adam Kendall, Managing Partner at McKinsey & Company. “The backdrop to our discussion today is that 621 million Africans don’t have access to electricity, and that 600,000 of them a year die from the effects of using biomass for cooking.

No matter which figures you read, it’s clear that we have a funding challenge - we need US $40-50 billion a year to spend on energy infrastructure, and thus far we’re investing nearer $8 billion. The three energy areas with the biggest potential for Africa are gas, hydro, and potentially the biggest winner of them all - solar energy. Our collective challenges lie in getting the regulatory policy right, raising the financing resources,

optimizing the role and capacity of the energy utilities, securing rural electrification, and above all securing political will.”

Kevin Urama, an Adviser to the President of the AfDB, set out the aims of the New Deal on Energy for Africa, a Bank-led initiative to ensure universal access to energy on the continent by 2025, and based on a transformative partnership spanning public and private sector actors ... and funding.

Our twin challenges, he said, are ramping up energy access to ensure that we can deliver on our development goals, and finding the right mix of renewable and traditional sources of energy.

Elizabeth Littlefield, President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), said, “US businesses are waking up to the investment opportunities presented by renewable energy in Africa, and particularly West Africa.” OPIC’s renewable energy portfolio has grown ten-fold in two years, she said.

Oliver Andrews, Chief Investment Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation, was clear that a big challenge lay in the readiness - or not - of fully bankable energy projects.

“But we do not view climate finance as a new fad,” he said.

“It reminds us of the mobile telephony revolution that swept across Africa - it’s the next real thing. But we have to make it happen, and we have to take the risk out of it. Right now, it’s slow and it needs new financing instruments - for instance with credit enhancement for energy utilities, which aren’t always seen as credit-worthy.”

Ahmed Nakkouch, CEO of Nareva, Africa’s largest domestic independent power producer, which specializes in wind energy, spoke of the energy trilemma of safety,

security and supply. He stressed the paramount importance of developing national power networks as the optimal way of serving and reaching the maximum number of people.

He cited Nigeria, where only 10% of national energy is on the network.

Siyanga Malumo, the CEO of the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, was clear that a renewable energy revolution in Africa can only be led, managed and funded by Africans. In order to ensure this happens, he made a strong case that African governments and businesses need to start

trusting and collaborating more with their fellow Africans.

Audience questions raised the issue of financing. The financing is there, said Oliver Andrews, but we need to look at the avenues we use to make it available, especially through other models than project finance. “Greater concerns lie in uncertainty and lack of incentive,” added Elizabeth Littlefield. Andrews continued: “We need a blend of financing and policy, marrying initiatives like the Green Climate Fund, which can accept lower margins, with the higher returns expected by traditional investors, for

whom energy tariff pricing must work.”

The consensus among the panel was that actually there is a significant amount of money available for financing. The fundamental challenge is having the transparent regulations, the credible off-takers, and above all, the political will to make this happen.

The fourth edition of the Africa CEO Forum, the foremost international meeting for African CEOs, bankers and investors, is taking place March 21 and 22, 2016, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. For more information,

Umahi Vows to Recover Funds from Contractors of Abandoned Projects Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi has vowed to recover money paid to contractors who failed to complete jobs awarded to them by the immediate past administration.

Umahi stated this while receiving interim report of the Dave Nwachukwu-led Market Development Committee in Abakaliki, recently.

He noted that the contractors had ignored several invitations for joint measurements with the ministries in charge of their contracts and warned that the government would take all necessary steps within the law to ensure that they complied.

His said, “A lot of the state fund is in the hands of the contractors. We invited one of the contractors or a number of them to come for joint measurements but they are not compling and when that is not possible, whatever joint measurement done by the supervising ministry, stands.

“And again, certification is cumulative and so we have the right and powers to ask contractors to be on site. I am very shocked that 99 per cent of the projects we inherited from the past administration are not going on and none of the contractors has told us why they are not on site. We made efforts to find out but they are not responding. “So we are going to take steps, if they are not listening to us, they must listen to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and very soon, we will consult the Constitution to take further steps to ensure that the investments of our state are not allowed to be wasted.

“But one thing is very

certain,no man will run away with the fund of Ebonyi State no matter the number of lawyers he assembles to tackle the state.”

Umahi, who lamented that 99 per cent of jobs he inherited from the past administration had been abandoned by contractors without reason, said he would use constitutional means to bring them back to site or recover the state’s fund already paid to them.

“But one thing is certain, no man will run away with the fund of Ebonyi State, no matter the number of lawyers assembled by them to tackle the state,” he assured.

Other reports presented to the governor during the occasion were that of higher education and Ikwo College of Education by their committee chairmen, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu and Chief Fidelis Nwankwo.

On the report of petitions written by some members of staff of the Ikwo College of Education against their Provost, Prof.Omebe, the governor directed the immediate disengagement of the 83 persons illegally recruited as workers.

Governor Umahi said, “Let me say that all the employment that were made without due process should be disengaged immediately, before we visit the institution. “So they must be disengaged. Due process must be followed before we even look at this(interim) document. And it is in the interest of the Provost that that is done before the end of this week.” He warned that his administration would not accept recruitments that did not reflect the geographical spread of the 13 local government areas of the state.

R-L: Ebonyi State Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe; Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi; Commissioner for Power, Emma Uguru and Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Ali Odefa, during the commissioning of street light at the Ezzamgbo -Ebonyi State University section of the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway… recently

Lagos Opens Ikorodu, Badagry CMB Plans to Build Affordable Residences in Apapa GRA Recreational Parks Fadekemi Ajakaiye The Lagos State Government opened the Badagry and Ikorodu Recreational Parks for public use all through the Easter holiday.

The General Manager of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), Mrs. Abimbola Jijoho-Ogun disclosed this during an interactive section at the head office of the Agency, recently.

She stated that all necessary arrangements were put in place to make the Easter celebration fun-filled for the residents of the two towns. She noted that both parks have all the necessary facilities obtainable in any standard park across the state.

According to her, “Adequate security have been provided for all fun seekers who desire to visit the parks as men of the Nigerian Police, LASTMA and KAI officials will be on ground to protect the lives and properties of all visitors to the Parks.” She further said, “In collaboration with our strategic partners, the park will be open free of charge all through the Easter period with funfairs for children and adults to have fun filled Easter period.”

Jijoho-Ogun disclosed that the Agency, in line with the State Government policy on job creation, would soon begin

the training of over 570 young Assistant Horticulturists from across the 57 LGAs/LCDAs. The young Horticulturists, she said would, after the completion of their training, be assigned some of the newly established or existing parks to manage as entrepreneurs. While advising the residents to prepare for the raining season by ensuring that their surroundings are clean, she stated that the Agency has commenced aggressive tree pruning exercise across the state to forestall dangers associated with trees falling during windstorms.

She, however, enjoined all residence to report to her agency if they found any tree that may pose danger to lives and property anywhere in the state. She noted that the agency was ready and willing to partner with private and business concerns for the adoption and maintenance of any of the public parks in order to achieve the collective dream of a greener and healthier state.

She enjoined all private park operators in the state to regularise their operations with LASPARK as the agency needed to certify their operations to meet both the state and international standards. This, she explained, would ensure the safety of lives and property of all visitors to the parks.

Bennett Oghifo CMB Building Maintenance & Investment Company Limited, a foremost real estate development company, has unveiled plans to boost its affordable portfolio of real estate development with the introduction of a residential housing estate in Apapa GRA. This CMB’s latest addition is strategically located in Apapa, which is the major port of the city of Lagos, Nigeria, and is located to the west of Lagos Island, across Lagos Harbour.

It accommodates three of the nation’s biggest seaports within its precinct. Set apart by its close proximity to the water, Apapa is divided into a commercial section and a residential neighbourhood, the serene Government Residential Area (GRA) where the estate will be located. CMB’s development drive towards the Apapa axis is coming on the heels of the directive by the Senate to the Federal Ministry of Works and the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, to immediately begin the process of removing structures on rights of way (motor ways) and other locations impeding smooth traffic flow across the country. The senate insisted that the Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State Government immediately resumes

the rehabilitation of the roads leading to the nation’s main ports in the Apapa area, with a view to tackling the gridlock menace there. This obviously has given a necessary filing to the improvement of the Apapa situation as all through 2016 the gridlock has been a thing of the past. The journey to Apapa is suddenly free and easy. With this underway, confidence has been renewed in the potential for new development and the market appetite for housing in the Apapa axis.

The estate will comprise 2 blocks of 38 units of tastefully finished 3 bedroom apartments with a service quarter and 2 pent apartments. The estate will boast of facilities such as alternative power supply, potable water supply, adequate parking space, landscaped area, elevators, fire escapes, a serene environment and facility management services.

Unveiling the residential estate in Lagos last week, the Managing Director of CMB, Mr Kelechukwu Mbagwu, said the decision to spread its business to the Apapa corridor is largely based on the company’s drive to be a fore-runner in reducing the nation’s current housing deficit. He enjoins developers across the country to embrace this mandate of private sector participation.

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INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Gunman Captured, Officer Injured in US Capitol Shooting

A gunman has been captured as gunfire rattled Capitol Hill in Washington yesterday, with a police officer also being shot in the process.

At approximately 2:40 p.m yesterday, an unknown male with a gun entered the visitor center below the Capitol grounds.

According to multiple reports, the suspect began to draw his

weapon when police fired at him. The Capitol’s sergeant-atarms said the gunman has been caught and that a U.S. Capitol Police officer was“shot, but not seriously.”

A female bystander was also reportedly injured in the gunfire.

The Capitol and adjacent office buildings were placed on lock down for about a half hour before

Iran Congratulates Syrian President on Regaining Palmyra The secretary of the Iranian National Security Council has congratulated Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, on regaining the city of Palmyra, Tasnim news agency reported yesterday.

“The determination of the Syrian nation, government and army to eliminate terrorist and takfiri groups from the occupied territories is something to be proud of,”Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying.

“The Iranian government and armed forces will continue

their full support of Syria and the Axis of Resistance,” he added.

Iran refers to the regional anti-Israel alliance as the axis of resistance and to hardline Sunni Islamists as takfiris.

Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a “mortal blow” to militants who seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples.

an all-clear order was issued.

There was confusion as the day began with a scheduled lockdown drill.

“No one will be allowed to enter or exit any buildings,” police notified House offices.

“You may move about within the buildings and underground between buildings. If you are outside, seek cover.”

Tourists were prompted to exit the Capitol area as soon as the lockdown began.

The Visitor Center was com-

missioned, in part, as a response to a 1998 shooting at the Capitol when Russell Eugene Weston Jr. (a paranoid schizophrenic) entered the building and shot and killed Capitol police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson.

All visitors to the capitol now enter via the underground center and its layers of security.Violence is not uncommon on Capitol Hill.

Last April, a man killed himself outside the building with a single shot, causing the Capitol to go under lockdown.

In 2013, a 34-year-old woman attempted to drive through a White House security checkpoint, striking a Secret Service agent in the process, and leading police on a chase to the Capitol, where she was fatally shot.

Her young daughter was discovered unharmed in the back seat of the vehicle after it had been stopped.

Three decades earlier, in 1971, the Weather Underground exploded a bomb in a Senate bathroom—no one was injured.

And in 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists fired 30 rounds from a balcony over looking the House chambers, injuring five congressman—all of whom recovered.

In 1835, President Andrew Jackson survived an assassination attempt after leaving a funeral at the Capitol. The gunman’s weapon misfired, sparing the president who then confronted the perpetrator, clubbing him with a walking cane.

Trump Questions NATO, Asia Nuclear Weapon Alliances ahead of Summit United States Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, has doubled down on his criticism of NATO, a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for decades, calling for the alliance’s overhaul days before world leaders convene in Washington.

President Barack Obama will host the Nuclear Security Summit on Thursday and Friday with 56 delegations in attendance. While preventing nuclear terrorism will headline the discussions, Trump’s

views could be a topic as well, particularly behind the scenes.

In another sharp departure from historic U.S. policy, Trump said in an interview published on Sunday by The New York Times that he would consider letting Japan and South Korea build their own nuclear weapons, rather than rely on America for protection against North Korea and China.

The billionaire businessman, vying to win his party’s nomination for the November

8 presidential election, also said he might halt U.S. purchases of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies unless they commit ground troops to fight Islamic State or pay the United States to do so.

“NATO is obsolete,” Trump said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

The 28-country North Atlantic Treaty Organization was set up in a different era, Trump said, when the main threat to the West was the Soviet Union. It was

ill-suited to fighting terrorism and cost the United States too much, he added.

“We should readjust NATO ... it can be trimmed up and it can be, uh, it can be reconfigured and you can call it NATO, but it’s going to be changed,”he said.

On March 21, Trump said the United States should slash its financial support for NATO, which was formed in 1949 after World War Two and became a bulwark against Soviet expansionism.

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NEWSEXTRA

Fashola Secures Release of 300,000 Legally Encumbered PHCN Meters Mediates in Geometric dispute with Enugu Disco over Aba business unit Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has disclosed that he has secured the release of about 300,000 electricity meters which belonged to defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) but were locked up in a warehouse because of a lingering legal case against the contract for their procurement.

Fashola said in a YouTube question and answer webinar which THISDAY monitored in Abuja yesterday that hopefully this huge volume of meters would be put to good use by the electricity distribution companies (Discos) in the country.

He explained that the contract for the procurement of the meters was awarded by PHCN in 2003 but that legal actions instituted by parties in the contract had stalled their eventual deployment to homes

in the 11 electricity distribution networks since then.

According to him, that case had been settled out court and alternative settlement reached by the parties.

He said this would ensure that the warehouse where the meters are kept would be opened and they deployed.

The minister also gave an update on the status of the lingering contractual dispute between Geometric Power Limited, owners of the 180 megawatts (MW) Geometric Aba Power Plant and Enugu Disco over Aba business unit which was reportedly cut off and ceded to Geometric by the federal government in an agreement but which Enugu Disco has also contested.

He said he had succeeded in getting both parties to now sit down and negotiate to settle the dispute, adding that he

was hopeful that production of power from the 180MW capacity independent power plant would soon commence.

“There is a contract that was awarded in 2003 for the supply of meters by the old PHCN and it ended up in court and that is for about 13 years.

“We couldn’t supply those meters and people were bickering and fighting, we have taken that case really out of court and we are trying to close it and hopefully take delivery of the meters that have been locked up in the warehouse, I think about 300,000 meters or so.

Hopefully, they will be useful for some purpose.”

He stated: “All the Discos today have about six million consumers

combined in their database. Are you saying to me that in reality it is only six million people that are using electricity in Nigeria, just imagine the number of people who are using electricity that is not measured or metered and that is free.

“Out of that six million that they have, they have metered about three million inherited and added on, so there is still a gap of close to 50 per cent of that six million that needs to be metered,” he added.

On the Geometric dispute with Enugu Disco, he said: “There is a problem with Aba Disco by Geometric Power Plant, there is 190MW there and they are having issues and they are not talking, we have brought them to start talking

because if they close, there is the potential to get 190MW into the grid.”

The minister also took out time to talk about the various opposition to the new retail electricity tariff in the country, and what he is doing to surmount them.

According to him: “There is still a lot of work to do, what I can tell you is that if we can get the cases against the tariff out of the court, the cases out of parliament against the tariff because I believe that businessmen like to deal with their regulator not politicians; they understand business rules and not political rules, then you create stability in the market.

“Businessmen are confident, they know that the game won’t change,

they will take position and in that way, you will see first, incremental power. If we don’t have incremental power; moving from 5000MW to 8000MW, 10,000MW, 15,000MW, you can’t equitably distribute what is not enough,” he added.

Speaking on electricity workers’ attitudes to work, as well as constant assets’ vandalism in the sector, Fashola said: “The more power we produce, the more stability we will see, I can guarantee that but I can’t guarantee that people will not go and cut gas lines, I can’t guarantee that people will not go on strike and go and shut down distribution or transmission facilities or the Control Centre in Osogbo because they want some of their colleagues to be kept at work.”

CAN Presidency: Otubu Elected OAIC Candidate Delegates of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) yesterday elected Professor Joseph Otubu as candidate of the bloc for the forthcoming presidency of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Otubu, who is the General Evangelist of the Motailatu Cherubim and Seraphim Church Worldwide (MCSCW), defeated former Vice President of CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh with four to three votes.

The primary election held at the international headquarters of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim Church (ESOCS) in Surulere, Lagos around noon.

The national secretariat of the apex Christian body had given a deadline of March 31 for its five blocs to submit names of their elected candidates for the general elections slated for June.

The contest for CAN presidency has been narrowed down to the OAIC and TEKAN/ECWA blocs with the former highly favoured to get the nod.

OAIC leaders confirmed last night that Otubu’s name will be forwarded to CAN secretariat today ahead of the deadline for submission of blocs’ candidates.

It was learnt that Okoh, who is the international president of OAIC, surprisingly indicated interest in the top CAN job at the last minutes, a development that made the primary keenly contested.

Otubu, a retired gynecologist, however carried the day when the nominations were subjected to voting.

Many church leaders believe his victory at the OAIC level is a big step towards him becoming the number one Christian citizen from July.

Elumelu to Speak at Harvard, Columbia Universities on Development Strategies for Africa The Chairman of Heirs Holdings; Mr. Tony Elumelu, will at the weekend engage with the academics, thought leaders and students in two of America’s prestigious universities; Harvard and Columbia on development strategies for Africa.

The African business leader, who is also Chairman of United Bank for Africa, will deliver a keynote address at the 2016 edition of the annual Harvard International Development Conference (HIDC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, April 2, 2016.

The conference with the theme: ‘Pathways to Progress,’ is organised by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, to explore and evaluate cases of success in development.

Later that day, Elumelu will engage with Columbia University in New York and deliver another keynote address on connecting Africa through internal solutions for development.

Expectedly Elumelu will share ideas on the promotion of entrepreneurship development and his economic philosophy of Africapitalism which encourages long term private sector investments in strategic sectors of the economy that create economic prosperity and social wealth.

One case study that will be on focus is the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). The 10-year $100million commitment by Elumelu, to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs with the aim of creating one million jobs and adding $10 billion to African economies, has entered its second year and is beginning to impact on the African economic landscape.

Other speakers expected at the conferences include Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other respected scholars and business leaders from across the globe.

GOD BLESS THIS MARRIAGE

L-R: Adamawa State Governor, Muhammad Jibirilla Bindow; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; and Atiku’s Principal Secretary, Mr. Abdullahi Nyako, at the wedding fatiha of Umar Babalele in Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa State...weekend

Spending of Abacha Loot: FG Must Obey the Law, Says Court The Federal High Court in Lagos has insisted on the enforcement of the judgment which order the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to publish widely the spending of recovered stolen funds since return of democracy in 1999.

The details of the judgment are contained in the certified true copy released yesterday by a civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).

The 69-page judgment dated March 24, 2016 and signed by Justice Mohammed Idris read in part: “Transparency in the decision making process and access to information upon which decisions have been made can enhance accountability.

“Obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly took oath of office to protect and preserve the Constitution is a desideratum to good governance and respect for the rule of law. In a constitutional democracy like ours, this is meant to be the norm.

“I am of the view that on receipt of SERAP request, the government had the duty to respond to same.

If it does hold the information it must supply it within seven days from receipt of the request. Where a decision to withhold information is taken, the government/relevant authorities must inform the plaintiff of its reason. In respect of the SERAP reliefs on recovered stolen funds since return of democracy in 1999, the government had kept mute. Let me say that they have no such power under the law.

“There is public interest in public authorities and high-profile individuals being accountable for the quality of their decision making.

Ensuring that decisions have been made on the basis of quality legal advice is part of accountability.

“The judiciary has no choice but to enforce compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. There is no doubt that the Freedom of Information Bill (FoI) Act is intended to act as a catalyst for change in the way public authorities approach and manage public resources and records. The judiciary cannot shirk its sacred responsibility to the nation to maintain the rule of law.

“I am of the view and do hold

that the action should and does succeed in whole. The documents relating to the receipt or expenditure on recovered stolen funds since return of democracy in 1999 constitute part of the information which a public institution and authority is obligated to publish, disseminate and make available to members of the public.

“The government has no legally justifiable reason for refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested, and therefore, this court ought to compel the government to comply with the FoI Act, as the government is not above the law.

“Examples of cases where there may be a public interest in the disclosure of confidential information include: 1 Information revealing misconduct/mismanagement of public funds; information which shows that a particular contract is bad value for money; and where the information would correct untrue statements or misleading acts on the part of public authorities or high-profile individuals.

“FoI Act 2011 is meant to enhance and promote democracy, transparency, justice and development. It is designed to change how government works,

because we have all resolved that it will no longer be business as usual. What is done officially must be done in accordance with the law. Although the FoI Act requires no explicit public interest test, an assessment of public interest must still be made. Therefore, all public institutions and authorities must ensure that they prepare themselves for the effective implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. “Disclosure of the information will not constitute an actionable breach of confidence if there is a public interest in disclosure which outweighs the public interest in keeping the information confidential.

There is a public interest in ensuring public scrutiny of public authorities.

If the exemption under the FoI Act is wrongly applied and information is incorrectly withheld, a public authority may face sanctions under the Act for not complying with the duty to provide information.”

In its letter to Malami, SERAP asked him to use his offices and leadership to ensure and facilitate full, effective and timely enforcement and implementation of the judgment by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

46

T H I S D AY ˾ DAY MARCH 29, 2016

ÜÙßÚ ÚÙÜÞÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ Duro Ikhazuagbe ×ËÓÖ duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

AFCON 2017 QUALIFIER

Nigeria Confronts Egypt in Battle of Blood and Thunder

Olawale Ajimotokan ÓØ ÌßÔË

The Super Eagles face an uphill task in their bid to reach the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon next year, when they meet Egypt in a Group G fixture in Alexandria this evening.

Such is the importance attached to the fixture, one of the matches on Super Tuesday across Africa, that it can fittingly be regarded as one of the most important matches by the Eagles in about three decades.

The Nigerian national team has been cornered in a dire strait and must respond by beating Egypt to guarantee its survival and future.

Anything short of a victory for coach Samson Siasia and his army will severely compromise Nigeria’s aspiration to reach Gabon 2017, making it the second time backto-back they will be absent from the tournament since 2013 when they won the trophy in South Africa.

It is very difficult to ponder the outcome of this important match considering the adversarial nature of Nigeria and Egypt showdowns.

A slice of that timeless tradition was served on Good Friday, when Mohamed Salah beat an offside trap, to score a last gasp equaliser in Kaduna, to keep Egypt on course after Oghenekaro Etebo put Nigeria

ahead on the hour in a match the Eagles dominated and should have won by a clear margin.

The Pharaohs, groomed by coach Hector Cuper, still hold a two-point advantage over their West African rival and will pull the strings before home crowd, to advance to the Nations Cup for the first time since they won the title in Angola in 2010.

It appears many people are expecting too much from the Eagles who have never beaten the Pharaohs in Egypt in their past showdowns.

By every comparison, Egypt is superior to Nigeria on the basis of the previous confrontations between the two continental power houses.

On record the Pharaohs triumphed over the Super Eagles on seven occasions out of the 18 times they have clashed since 1959.

On their part, Eagles have also shown they are no pushovers either as they won on six times, while the remaining five games were drawn.

The last time Nigeria beat Egypt was at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1990, while the Pharaohs exerted their pound of flesh by winning two of the last three fixtures in Angola at the Nations Cup and in a friendly match in Dubai in April 2012.

Eagles’ Captain, John Mikel

WHAT THE COACHES ARE SAYING….

SAMSON SIASIA

“We can still make the difference in Egypt,”said a confident Samson Siasia, who has been appointed in temporary charge of the Super Eagles last month after the shock resignation of Sunday Oliseh.

“We have to encourage the boys so that they could play for Nigeria.”

“We’re going to Egypt to win. They were lucky to get an equaliser (in the first match), but we have learnt from this experience,”he said.

HECTOR CUPPER

“We will have an attacking approach in Alexandria,” Cuper said.

“We will try to create more goal scoring opportunities and to be better than Friday’s game, as we are only looking only for a win.”

The Argentine added that playing in front of a home crowd could be an added advantage with the officials allowing up to 20 000 supporters to attend the match at Borg El-Arab Stadium.

“The presence of the fans will give us an edge. It will be different in Alexandria (than in Kaduna),” the coach added.

“We are only focusing on Nigeria’s game. That is more important for us.”

HOW THEY STAND Team

P

W D

Egypt

2

1

Nigeria

2

Tanzania

2

L

GF

GA GD

Pts

4

1

4

1

0

3

0

2

0

1

1

0

2

0

1

1

0

3

-3

1

Obi, buttressed the importance of today’s meeting on the eve of the departure to Alexandria, when he roused his colleagues to be ready to fight like they have never before.

“It is a massive battle that we are going for and there should be no illusion about it. We have to face reality and everyone has to give more than 100 percent because we just have to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.

We have to go to Alexandria and fight with everything we have,’’ Mikel pleaded.

The sudden withdrawal of Chad from the race will place an extra ounce of pressure on Nigeria as all results from previous matches involving their northern neighbours have been annulled, thus rubbishing all calculations of Nigeria qualifying as second best loser, as only three teams are now left in Group G. Injury to goalkeeper Carl Ikeme before the team jetted out yesterday by a charter flight is not a cheering news, but the Eagles know they have to play on the front foot and try to create scoring chances similar to how to they played in Kaduna four days ago, if they are to cause any upset in Egypt.

It is not too sure how Siasia will approach the game, but the Eagles are not shorn of quality with forward players Ahmed Musa, Odion Ighalo and Simon Daddy Moses, linking up with Mikel, Ogenyi Onazi and Kelechi Iheanacho in the midfield.

That Victor Moses, Echiejile Elderson, Alex Iwobi and Umar Aminu may likely start from the bench today reinforces the depth in strength in the Eagles.

Mikel ... to lead the battle against Pharaohs

Former Honduras President Pleads Guilty in FIFA Scandal A former President of Honduras, Rafael Callejas, yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, admitting that he took bribes over broadcast rights in the FIFA soccer scandal.

Callejas, a member of FIFA’s television and marketing committee and the country’s president from 1990 to 1994, told the judge in a Brooklyn federal courtroom in the USA that he had taken bribes and distributed some of the money to others, acts that he acknowledged knowing

were wrong.

He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, with each charge including a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Callejas also agreed to forfeit $650,000 and sentencing was set for Aug. 5, according to the Associated Press.

So far, about 20 soccer officials have been indicted on charges related to the United States’ investigation into soccer corruption.

Arrests were first made last May,

with 14 people charged, including seven top FIFA officials.

Sixteen other defendants, mostly from Central and South America, were charged in the fall, with five current and former members of FIFA’s executive committee arrested.

In November, Callejas was charged in connection with bribery in connection with broadcasting and hosting rights for the World Cup and other soccer events.

Prosecutors allege that hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal payments were made over the

last 25 years.

The widening FIFA scandal cost Sepp Blatter his job as president and earned him an eight-year suspension from the sport.

Michel Platini, the president of Europe’s soccer governing body, also stepped down and was similarly banned. Both men are expected to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Gianni Infantino was elected to succeed Blatter, who had been FIFA president since 1998, in February.

Pepsi Stages Corporate Beach Soccer at Gidi Fest

Manager Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, Mr. James Adah (left) and Brand Manager Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, Mr. Segun Ogunleye (5th left) celebrating with NTDIL team, winner of Pepsi Corporate Beach Soccer at Gidi Fest held at the Eko Atlantic Beach, Lagos last weekend

Pepsi, a brand synonymous with football development in Nigeria provided an exciting variety to the Easter celebration as top Nigerian professionals from different walks of life displayed their football artistry at beach soccer tournament at the weekend.

The beach soccer match organised

by Pepsi as part of the events for this year’s Gidi Fest at Eko Atlantic Beach, Lagos provided an ample opportunity for the corporate guys to show to soccer enthusiasts that beyond engineering, creative art, marketing or law they could also play good football.

The three-team beach soccer featured corporate executives

from all walks of life such as Luciel Kancel, construction engineer, Emeka Okocha, creative industrialist, Teierry Mbimi, Partner KPMG amongst others.

The exciting beach soccer match saw NTDIL team beating Thursday Night Life 5-4 in a penalty shootout at the opening game.

The team which lost by 1-0 to Pepsi’s team in 2015 also went ahead to defeat Golden Stars 3-1 at the final on Saturday.

There were fascinating dribbles, penetrating passes and crunchy tackles to the admiration of the spectators who applauded and cheered ceaselessly.

Head of Marketing Seven Up

Bottling Company Plc, Mr. Norden Thurston said Pepsi is pleased to partner Gidi Fest to provide fun and excitement to the youth during the holiday period through corporate beach soccer.

Represented by Mr. Segun Ogunleye, Brand Manager at Seven Up Bottling Company, Mr. Thurston implored the youth to seize the now moment and aspire to be the best in whatever field of human endeavour noting that Pepsi has been supportive of such aspirations.

“Pepsi has provided platforms for the Nigerian youth to reach the zenith of his chosen field be it football, entertainment or education among others,” said Thurston.

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MARCH 29, 2016

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Tuesday March 29, 2016

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Price: N150

MISSILE Fayose to Buhari

This is a moment of truth. I commend the president for being bold enough to apologise for his lapses...The President must not, however, stop at apologising. He cannot continue to apologise over everything, he must step up. A leader must think very well before making policy statements.

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose urging President Muhammadu Buhari to up the ante in governance and think through before making public pronouncements on policies.

BENMURRAYBRUCE MAKING COMMON SENSE

ben.murraybruce@thisdaylive.com

Do You Know How Great Nigeria Is?

M

any Nigerians look up to foreigners, especially Westerners, to set standards for them.

This habit makes many of us think that the average Westerner is in some way better than us.

Not true. Not true at all.

All over the world, Nigerians are setting the pace and are becoming the standard by which others measure themselves. This is very factual.

For instance, in the US, Nigerians are the most educated of any immigrant community. Now I did not say one of the most educated. I said the most educated bar none.

This means there is no sub sect of the US population that is more educated than Nigerians according to official data from the United States Census Bureau.

Sixty per cent of Nigerians in the US have college degrees. This is far above the American national average of 30%.

Not only are Nigerians the most educated immigrant community in the United States, Nigerians are also one of the highest earning immigrant community in America.

Nigerians in the US typically earn at least 25% more than the US median income of $53,000.

And this story is replicated all over Europe and North America.

In Ivy League schools all over Europe and North America, Nigerians routinely outperform their peers from other nations.

Just recently, I was reading about the Imafidon family of the United Kingdom.

This family of Nigerian immigrants have officially been named the smartest family in the UK. All five of their children have broken national education records in the UK. At 13, Anne-Marie Imafidon was the youngest person to pass the U.K.’s A-level computing exam and she attended John Hopkins University in Baltimore and got her masters degree from Oxford University, all before she turned 20 years old.

Her twin siblings Peter and Paula became the youngest persons to ever pass the University of Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam.

The designer of the famous car, the

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed

Chevrolet Volt, Jelani Aliyu, is a super talented Nigerian from Sokoto State.

Because of him, I bought two volts for my sons!

And Nigerians are doing well at home too.

The wealthiest Black man on earth is a Nigerian, Aliko Dangote. The wealthiest Black woman on the planet is a Nigerian, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija.

On the list of the top 10 richest Black people on earth, more than half are Nigerians!

A Nigerian, Otunba Mike Adenuga owns the largest black-owned telecommunications firm in the world and it is called Globacom.

Many Nigerians lambast their government because of all the issues we face domestically. But Nigerian governments over the years have achieved great things.

It is doubtful if South Africa could have ended apartheid and achieved black rule if not for the leadership role Nigeria played in the anti apartheid struggle.

Not only did we commit hundreds of millions of dollars to that struggle, but of the three Presidents who have ruled South Africa after apartheid, two of them once took asylum in Nigeria.

Both Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki lived in Nigeria before becoming president.

Nigeria spent over $3 Billion and lost hundreds of soldiers to end the wars in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.

When there was a coup in São Tomé and Príncipe in 2003, the then Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, restored the democratically elected President, Fradique de Menezes, back to power.

And Nigeria’s greatness did not start today. Before there were street lights in most European cities, the ancient kingdom of Benin had street lights powered by palm oil.

The walls of the ancient Benin Kingdom were greater than the Great Wall of China. This is a historical fact!

Five Hundred years ago, the people of Benin Kingdom were casting metal alloys and using them to create some of the most magnificent pieces of art known to man including the world famous Queen Ida mask, popularly known as the FESTAC mask.

Unfortunately, that great kingdom was destroyed by the British in 1897 in revenge for the defeat of acting Consul General James Philips’s army by the Binis.

And even before then, we had Queen Amina of Zazzau. She was a warrior queen who ruled what is now known as Zaria Emirate in Kaduna state of Northwestern Nigeria 400 years ago in 1610.

The Second Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Bello, wrote about her in 1836 in his Ifaq al-Maysur as the first among the Hausas to organise her

kingdom into a formal government.

Queen Amina’s conquest reached Kano, Katsina, Nupe and Kwararafa.

Wherever you look to, in this great country called Nigeria, heroes abound both now and in our recent and ancient past.

We are not some primitive people who are never-do-wells. If all you do is listen to the mainstream Western media, you will not get the full picture of your heritage as a Nigerian.

You see, if we do not tell our stories by ourselves, others will tell it for us and we will continue thinking that they are better than us when in fact we are a great and promising nation!

Do not listen to any leader who says Nigerians are criminals!

We are not a nation of scammers, drugs peddlers and corrupt people. We are a proud and dignified people with a verifiable track record of greatness.

Be proud of Nigeria. Be proud of your accent. Be proud of your heritage.

My name is Ben Murray-Bruce and I just want to make Commonsense!

• Murray-Bruce is the Senator representing Bayelsa East and chairman of the Silverbird Entertainment Group

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